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•   I- I  VI  I 


Hygiene   in   Mexico 

A  Study  of  Sanitary  and  Educational 
Problems 


By 

Alberto  J.  Pani,  G,  E.  i 

I 

Member  of  the   Geographical  and   Statistical   Society;    Member   of  the  ^ 

Engineering  and    Architectural    Association;    Ex-Subsecretary  of    the 
Department  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts;  Ex-Director  General 
of  Public  Works  in  the  City  of  Mexico;  Rector  and  Founder  of  the  ] 

Mexican  Popular  University;  Professor  of  the  National  Engineer- 
ing School;  Director  General  of  the  Constitutionalist  Railways;  \ 
Executive  President  of  the  Company  "Ferrocarriles  Nationales 
de  Mexico  "  (National  Railways  of  Mexico) ;  Member  of  j 
the  Board  of  Directors  of  said  Company;  Member  of  the                                            n 
Mexican    Section    of    the    Joint    Mexican-American 
Commission  of   New  London.  Conn.,  and  Atlantic                                              j 
City,  N.  J.,  1916                                                                            \ 


Translated  by 

Ernest  L.  de  Gogorza 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 

Hbe    Iknicl^erbocFier    pceas 

1917 


Gift  of  the  President 
FEB 2  "■  "17 


Copyright,   191 7 

BY 

ALBERTO   J.  PANI 


Zbe  fmicfeerbocftcr  press,  "Rcw  Kock 


NOTE 

SINCE  the  sole  purpose  of  the  Author  of  this 
work  was  to  expose  one  of  the  least  known, 
most  nefarious  and  shameful  inheritances  of  the 
past,  in  order  that  it  may  be  uprooted  with  the 
most  intense  energy  of  which  Government,  as 
well  as  Society  in  general,  is  capable,  the  gross 
proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  Spanish  edition  were 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  People's  University 
of  Mexico,  in  order  to  further  its  beneficial  labors 
in  favor  of  our  less  cultured  classes,  and  especially 
to  promote  the  teachings  of  Hygiene : 

Salus  Populi  Suprema  Lex. 


Ill 


FOREWORD 

FROM  the  earliest  times,  there  has  been  re- 
cognized the  convenience,  or  rather  the  neces- 
sity, of  having  the  Powers  that  Be  take  action  to 
insure  Public  Health.  We  find  an  eloquent  example 
of  this  in  the  theocracy  of  Moses,  whose  command- 
ments and  laws — v/hich  contain  most  salutary  les- 
sons of  social  hygiene — have  explained,  from  a 
merely  scientific  point  of  view,  the  astounding 
immunity  of  the  Hebrew  people,  during  their 
arduous  and  protracted  pilgrimage  through  un- 
healthy regions  to  the  Promised  Land. 

At  present  the  great  endeavors  to  adapt  man 
to  the  environment  imposed  on  him  by  the  exigen- 
cies of  modern  life,  which  he  must  bear  as  indi- 
vidual or  species,  combined  with  efforts  made  to 
discover  the  chief  elements  of  adaptation — efforts 
resulting  on  the  one  hand  from  the  transformation 
effected  in  hygiene  by  the  discoveries  of  Pasteur, 
which  have  directed  it  along  a  rational  road,  and 
on  the  other,  from  the  abundant  resources  supplied 
by  industry — ought  to  make  of  the  public  health 
one  of  the  most  sacred  and  imperious  duties  of  the 
State. 

Civilization  beginning  with  a  social  organlza- 


VI  Foreword 

tion  based  upon  the  recognition  of  the  individual 
rights  of  property,  especially  in  what  concerns 
the  land,  becomes  developed  and  strengthened 
with  the  ulterior  progress  of  the  same  society — 
that  is,  through  its  growing  heterogeny.  Hence 
the  almost  unconquerable  difficulty  of  ap- 
praising with  precision  a  condition  of  advanced 
civilization.  Nevertheless,  among  its  numerous 
sociological  elements,  intimately  interwoven,  we 
find  one  conception  of  basic  importance,  namely, 
the  necessity  of  protecting  human  life,  because 
without  this  protection  the  existence  and  increase 
of  collective  bodies  become  impossible.  This, 
in  comparison  with  that  of  other  social  aggregates, 
can,  therefore,  be  used  as  a  medium  for  approxi- 
mate estimation.  The  State  protects  the  health 
of  the  individual  in  order  to  make  possible  the 
progressive  development  of  society,  by  populariz- 
ing the  precepts  of  private  hygiene,  and  practicing 
those  of  public  hygiene.  For  the  first  it  has  the 
schools,  as  a  most  excellent  medium  of  propaganda ; 
for  the  second,  with  a  more  direct  influence  on 
public  welfare,  it  has  recourse  chiefly  to  special 
establishments  (of  healing,  of  disinfection,  and 
of  prophylaxis),  to  works  of  sanitary  engineer- 
ing, and  to  laws  and  regulations  for  whose 
strict  observance  a  trained  technical  personnel 
especially  organized  to  police  and  supervise  is 
made  responsible.  We  may  state,  therefore, 
without  fear  of  exaggeration,  that  there  exists  a 
precise  and  direct  proportion  between   the  sum  of 


Foreword  vii 

civilization  acquired  by  a  country^  and  the  degree 
of  perfection  reached  in  its  administration  and 
stewardship  of  the  public  health.  Consequently 
I  deem  it  of  the  deepest  importance  to  reveal  the 
lamentable  condition  of  civilization — as  regards 
public  health — in  the  Federal  District,  which 
imquestionably  is  that  portion  of  the  coimtry 
farthest  advanced  in  material  progress.  In  this 
way  we  shall  make  apparent  in  the  clearest  man- 
ner possible  the  sanitary  condition  in  other  parts 
of  the  Republic,  which  are  densely  peopled,  and 
less  adapted  than  the  former,  from  the  material 
point  of  view,  to  sanitary  improvement.  The 
analysis  we  intend  to  make  of  the  necessity  for 
sanitary  improvement  will  fill  an  inexplicable 
hiatus  in  the  revolutionary  literature  of  recent 
years,  and  will  serve  to  show  up,  once  more,  the 
urgency  of  improving  the  precarious  economical 
condition  of  the  popular  classes,  and  will  mark  one 
of  the  principal  aspects — ^the  Hygienic — ^which  the 
future  education  of  labor  must  have. 

We  know  that,  in  pursuance  with  the  law  of 
March  26,  1903,  the  Government  of  the  Federal 
District  was,  politically,  administratively,  and 
municipally,  placed  in  charge  of  the  Union's 
Executive,  and  that  the  administration  has  been 
exercised  through  three  fimctionaries  who  are 
directly  subservient  to  the  Secretary  of  State 
and  Interior:  the  District  Governor,  the  General 
Director  of  Public  Works,  and  the  President  of  the 
Board  of  Health.    These  three  officials  have  held 


viii  Foreword 

jurisdiction  over  all  the  area  occupied  by  the 
Federal  District,  and  have  fulfilled  their  duties, 
either  jointly,  as  Board  of  Health,  or  separately, 
in  their  respective  capacities.  It  is  also  known 
that  in  all  the  other  Federal  States  the  municipal 
institution  has  been  likewise  emasculated,  making 
it  utterly  subservient  to  the  Executive,  through 
the  oppressive  action  of  the  Jeje  politico.  Now, 
although  the  Decree  promulgated  on  December 
25,  1914,  by  the  Revolution's  First  Chief,  answer- 
ing a  national  aspiration,  has  reestablished  the 
autonomy  and  liberty  of  the  municipality,  and 
although  the  Revolution  has  swept  away  many 
abuses,  still  as  the  inertia  of  institutions  is  such 
that  it  remains  apparent  even  after  their  annihila- 
tion, it  behooves  us  to  ascertain  thoroughly  the 
errors  committed,  and  the  ensuing  damages,  in 
order  to  obviate  the  imminent  danger  of  molding 
in  harmful  and  discarded  forms  the  future  orga- 
nization of  the  Republic.  Hence  we  consider  it 
of  the  greatest  interest,  in  the  case  under  considera- 
tion, to  investigate  the  causes  of  the  disgraceful 
state  of  backwardness  in  which  we  find  ourselves, 
as  a  civilized  nation — a  condition  due  to  the  in- 
significant protection  which  our  authorities  have 
ever  afforded  human  life. 

Briefly,  then,  these  are  the  aims  of  this  publica- 
tion. This  study  has  been  tmdertaken  by  express 
order  of  Citizen  Venustiano  Carranza,  First  Chief 
of  the  Constitutionalist  Army,  and  trustee  of  the 
Union's  executive  power.      Unquestionably  it  is 


Foreword  ix 

defaced  by  the  many  blemishes  resulting  from  my 
incompetence  and  from  the  pressure  of  extraneous 
business  thereto,  due  to  my  official  duties  to  the 
State.  Such  as  it  is,  however,  it  contains  data 
which  I  consider  valuable,  and  it  is  imbued  with 
my  most  earnest  unrelenting  endeavor  to  serve 
my  country  in  a  broader  field  than  that  covered 
by  the  duties  of  my  post  as  servant  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  Revolution.  I  dedicate  it,  therefore, 
to  those  who  may  find  therein  some  serviceable 
matter,  as  a  most  humble  offering  to  the  vast 
and  urgent  task  of  national  reconstruction. 


A.  J.  P. 


City  of  Mexico, 
April,  191 6. 


CONTENTS 


Foreword    . 


Public  Health  in  the  City  of  Mexico 

Causes  of  the  Unhealthfiilness 

Physical  Characteristics  of  the  Medium 
Temperature  ..... 
Humidity,  Rains,  Winds 
Geological  Constitution  and  Topography 

Principal  Factors  of  the  Urban  Medium 

Living  Beings 

Nutrition 

Dwellings 

Houses  of  the  Future 

Urban  Transit 

General  Recommendations 

EjBficient    Organization    of    the    Sanitary 
Administration     . 

Compulsory  Sanitation 

The    Intellectual,    Moral,    and    Economic 
Improvement  of  the  People  . 
xi 


PAGE 

V 

I 

8 

15 

17 
20 

24 

29 

31 
40 

58 

91 
114 

117 

121 
128 

133 


xii  Contents 


PAGE  j 

Appendix  Number  I:  1 


The  Constitutionalist  Government  Con- 
fronted with  the  Sanitary  and  Educa- 
tional Problems  of  Mexico   .         .         .175 

Appendix  Number  II: 

Bibliography  Pertaining  to  Mortality — 
Charts  Nos.  i,  2,  and  3  .         .         .         .     184 

Appendix  Number  III: 

Table  Showing  the  Mortality  of  the  City 
of  Mexico  and  its  Causes  from  1904  to 
1912 191 

Appendix  Number  IV: 

Economic  Conditions  of  Some  Families 
among  Working  People  .         .         .     200 


I 

Public  Health  in  the  City  of  Mexico 


CHAPTER  I 

PUBLIC  HEALTH  IN  THE  CITY  OF  MEXICO 

IF  the  Federal  District  is  the  part  of  the  coimtry 
showing  the  greatest  culture  and  material 
progress,  doubtless  Mexico  City  is  that  part  thereof 
where  preferentially  the  efforts  of  our  sanitary 
authorities  have  been  concentrated  ever  since 
these  have  been  under  the  direct  control  of  the 
Union's  Executive.  Consequently,  such  deduc- 
tions as  we  obtain  from  the  examination  of  the 
sanitary  condition  of  the  Republic's  capital  will 
acquire  even  greater  force  if  we  apply  them  to 
the  municipalities  outside  of  the  Federal  District. 
The  best  way  to  secure  a  clear  idea  of  the  state 
of  public  health  in  a  city  is  to  compare  its  death 
rate  with  that  of  other  cities,  always  provided 
that  the  conditions  under  the  considered  viewpoint 
be  comparable.  It  is  well  known  that  the  essen- 
tial condition  of  comparison,  in  this  case,  is  the 
population's  density.  The  dangers  to  public 
health  are  usually  in  proportion  with  the  degree 
of  density  of  the  social  aggregate.  However,  as 
the  guide  given  by  the  average  density  of  popula- 
tion in  a  city  in  the  course  of  formation,  and  there- 

3 


4  Public  Health 

fore  with  a  growth  apparently  abnormal,  is  very 
deceptive,  varying  in  Mexico  from  its  maximum 
value  in  the  closest  packed  tenements  to  the 
scattered  inhabitants  of  the  suburbs,  and  more- 
over as  the  city  under  discussion  is  the  Republic's 
capital,  I  shall  make  the  comparison,  first  with 
sundry  cities  having  a  poptilation  about  as  numer- 
ous as  that  of  our  own  city — ^in  absolute  value — 
and  then  with  the  capitals  of  other  nations.  If 
the  cities  of  the  first  group  have  not  precisely  the 
same  density  of  population,  we  must  still  consider 
that  nearly  aU,  principally  the  European,  and  those 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  are  more  densely 
peopled  than  even  a  closely  packed  district  of 
Mexico  City. 

I  have  set  forth  in  the  subjoined  tables — ntim- 
bered  i  and  2 — the  results  of  my  investigations 
in  this  respect.  The  first  is  a  comparative  table 
of  mortality  in  191 1  in  thirty-one  cities  of  Europe, 
America,  Asia,  and  Africa,  each  of  a  population 
ranging  from  four  hundred  thousand  to  seven 
himdred  thousand  inhabitants.  Mexico's  popula- 
tion barely  reaches  five  hundred  thousand  inhabi- 
tants. The  second  table  compares  the  mortality 
of  thirty-three  capitals  of  Europe,  America, 
and  Africa.  For  greater  clearness,  I  have  repre- 
sented graphically  in  said  tables — by  means  of 
proportional  areas  traced  obliquely — the  respective 
coefficients  of  mortality — that  is,  the  numbers  of 
annual  deaths  per  thousand  inhabitants,  corre- 
sponding  to   the  various   cities   considered.    In 


TABLE  NO.1 
Comparison  of  Death  B0  in  1911  in  Various  Ci'    Bhaying  a  Population  hejjveen 

400000  AND  700000  INHABI 


^ 


TABLE   N0.2 
Comparison  of  Registered  Mortalit.r,  during  Years  pointed  out,  in 

CAPITALS    OF    VARIOUS    COUNTRIES 


=» 


%m' 


Z/ 


'^ 


-^_ 


ANNUAL 
MORTALITY 


ANNUAL 
MORTALITY 


POPULATION 


POPULATION 


EUROPE 


AMERICA 


In  the  City  of  Mexico  5 

Table  No.  i  I  have  shown,  moreover— by 
means  of  horizontal  lines  shaded  with  small 
vertical  tracings — some  average  coefficients  of 
mortality. 

With  the  desire  to  proceed  by  the  surest  means 
in  order  to  ascertain  the  place  occupied  by  Mexico 
City  in  world  civilization,  according  to  the  health 
scale  adopted,  I  utilized  all  available  sources  of 
information.  Appendix  No.  II,  is  a  detailed  biblio- 
graphic specification  of  all  these  authorities  and 
sources  of  information,  and  of  the  way  of  ascer- 
taining and  reaching  the  figures  which  have  served 
to  compile  the  aforesaid  tables. 

TABLE  NO.  I     {See  opposite  page) 

A  cursory  view  of  this  table  will  suffice  to  show: 

I.  That  the  coefficient  of  mortality  of  Mexico 
City  (42.3)  is  nearly  treble  of  the  average  mortality 
coefficient  of  American  cities  (16.1)  having  similar 
population. 

II.  That  it  is  nearly  two  and  a  half  times  greater 
than  the  average  coefficient  of  mortality  of  the  Euro- 
pean cities  (17.53)  "i^hich  can  he  compared;  and 

III.  That  it  is  even  greater  than  the  mortality 
coefficients  of  the  Asiatic  and  African  cities  of 
Madras  and  Cairo  (39.51  and  40.15,  respectively), 
even  though  in  the  former  ^  cholera  morbus  is  endemic. 

TABLE  NO.  2     {See  opposite  page) 

Although,  strictly  speaking,  the  fundamental 
conditions  of  comparison — those  relating  to  popu- 


6  Public  Health 

lation — are  only  realized,  as  before  mentioned,  by 
the  cities  included  in  Table  No.  i,  the  comparison 
made  in  Table  No.  2 — wherein  we  again  find 
Mexico  City  with  the  greatest  coefficient  of  mortality, 
nearly  three  times  greater,  for  instance,  than  that  of 
Constantinople  (15.09),  whose  population  is  double 
that  of  our  capital,  and  is  constantly  threatened  by 
cholera  morbus  and  bubonic  plague.  I  repeat  that 
the  comparison  made  in  said  table  demonstrates, 
more  clearly  than  ever,  the  sin  of  inefficiency  which 
stains  the  administration  of  our  sanitary  authorities. 

GENERAL   CONCLUSIONS 

The  obstacles,  which  we  always  find  in  Mexico, 
in  the  way  of  obtaining  reliable  data  to  make  up 
the  foregoing  tables,  compelled  me  to  omit  some 
cities  comparable  with  our  capital  along  the  double 
aspect  considered.  These  omissions,  however, 
do  not  restrict  the  general  character  of  the  con- 
clusions to  which  the  said  tables  point  out.  Con- 
centrating therefore,  upon  table  No.  i,  which, 
as  before  stated,  best  satisfies  the  comparison 
factors  exacted,  the  omissions  are: 

I.  To  the  South  American  city  of  San  Paolo, 
Brazil;  the  European  cities  of  Barcelona,  Spain; 
Birmingham,  England ;  Kiev,  Russia ;  to  the  Asiatic 
cities  of  Kioto  (Japan)  and  Hyderabad  (Dominion 
of  Nizam,  British  Indies);  and  to  the  Australian 
cities  of  Sydney,  New  South  Vv^ales,  and  Mel- 
bourne, Victoria.     Though  I  could  not  state  with 


In  the  City  of  Mexico  7 

numerical  precision  what  are  the  mortality  co- 
efficients of  these  cities,  /  do  know  that  all  of  them 
are  lower  than  that  of  Mexico  City;  and 

II.  To  the  Chinese  cities  of  Shanghai,  Tout- 
cheou,  Tchoung-king,  and  Sou-tcheou,  of  whose 
mortality  I  have  no  reliable  data,  nor  of  their 
exact  popiilation.  Though  many  statisticians 
assign  to  said  cities  populations  ranging  from 
five  hundred  to  seven  hundred  thousand  inhabit- 
ants, so  much  uncertainty  covers  the  point,  that 
some  geographers  and  eminent  travelers  estimate 
the  population  of  the  Chinese  Republic  from  two 
hundred  and  fifty  to  four  hundred  millions  of 
inhabitants.  That  is  to  say,  the  probable  estimate 
hardly  reaches  the  rough  approximation  of  nearly 
forty  per  cent. 

Therefore,  excluding,  for  aforesaid  reasons,  the 
said  four  Chinese  cities,  I  think  I  am  warranted 
in  formulating  the  following  general  conclusion: 
Mexico  City^  capital  of  the  Mexican  Republic,  in 
view  of  the  conditions  shown  in  Tables  Nos.  i  and 
2,  is  J  assuredly  y  the  most  unhealthful  city  of  the 
whole  world. 


CHAPTER  II 

CAUSES  OF  THE  UNHEALTHFULNESS 

HAVING  measured  the  degree  of  iinhealth- 
fulness  in  Mexico  City  through  its  co- 
efficient of  mortality,  it  behooves  us  to  ascertain, 
first,  the  number  and  nature  of  the  plagues  and 
diseases  affecting  the  said  mortality,  that  we  may 
deduce,  from  individual  or  external  conditions 
originating  said  illnesses,  or  favoring  their  propaga- 
tion and  development,  what  are  the  causes  of 
this  unhealthful  condition.  To  avoid  errors  pro- 
ceeding from  circumstances  accidental  or  tran- 
sient, it  is  necessary  to  seek  an  average  of  the 
mortality  rate,  for  each  disease,  within  a  given 
space  of  time. 

The  variations  of  mortality  in  Mexico  City 
during  the  last  eighteen  years — ^represented  geo- 
metrically in  Table  No.  3 — do  not  show,  in  truth, 
a  marked  tendency  to  descend.  The  two  curves 
which  are  observed  in  the  table  include  each  a 
period  of  nine  years — ^from  1895  to  1903,  and  from 
1904  to  1 9 12,  respectively — producing  average 
partial  coefficients  (48.06  and  44.27)  which  only 

differ  from  the  average  total  coefficient  (46.17) 

8 


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54 
52 
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46 
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1911 

1912 

TABLE  No.  3 

Cui-Te  showing'  Mortality  Variations  in  the  City  of  Mexico  from  1895  to  1912 


Causes  of  the  Unhealthfulness        9 

by  less  than  two  deaths  for  each  thousand  inhabit- 
ants. It  is  easy  to  note  that  the  two  curves  are 
of  similar  structure,  and  that,  moreover,  the  co- 
efficient minimo  minimorum  does  not  correspond 
to  the  last  year  of  the  total  period  considered — 
wherein  there  is  already  manifested  a  marked 
tendency  to  rise — but  to  the  year  of  1904,  the 
point  of  demarkation  of  the  two  resulting  periods. 
The  space  of  time  which  must  consequently  be 
adopted  to  average  the  figures  relative  to  mortal- 
ity, is  that  which  corresponds  to  the  last  period, 
that  is,  the  one  included  between  the  years  1904 
to  1912.^  I  have  extracted  for  the  purpose  from 
the  Annual  Reports  of  Work  Effected  by  the  Board 
of  Health,  the  data  with  which  I  have  compiled  the 
tables  of  Appendix  No.  Ill,  showing  the  mortality 
of  Mexico  City,  and  setting  forth  the  various 
diseases  which  furnished  the  causes  thereof — 
grouped  in  accordance  with  the  generally  adopted 
Bertillon  classification — during  the  period  elapsing 
from  1904  to  1 9 12.  In  the  last  column  of  these 
tables  I  have  consigned  the  figures  relative  to  the 
Annual  average  death  rate — that  is,  the  respective 
averages  of  the  figures  corresponding  to  the  nine 
years  aforesaid. 

The  summary,  for  these  nine  years,  of  the 
fourteen  general  groups  in  which  the  Bertillon  clas- 
sification divides  all  the  diseases,  is  graphically 
represented  in  Table  No.  4,  in  a  manner  similar 

»  See  in  Appendix  No.  II  the  paragraph  headed  "  Board  of 
Health  of  Mexico  City." 


10       Causes  of  the  Unhealthfulness 

to  that  adopted  in  Tables  Nos.  i  and  2.  The  ill- 
nesses producing  the  greatest  mortality,  as  may  be 
seen  in  this  table,  are,  successively,  those  of  the 
digestive  apparatus,  those  of  the  respiratory  organs, 
and  those  grouped  under  the  appellation  of  ^^ general 
diseases y  To  the  diseases  of  the  first  group 
correspond  nearly  a  third  part  (32.14%),  and  to 
those  of  each  one  of  the  other  two  groups,  more 
than  a  fifth  (21.72%  and  21.61%,  respectively), 
or,  jointly  adding  the  deaths  occasioned  by  the 
sicknesses  of  the  three  m^entioned  groups,  some- 
thing more  than  three  fourths  (7547%)  of  the 
total  mortality. 

The  common  character  of  the  illnesses  which 
go  to  make  up  each  one  of  these  three  groups,  and 
especially  the  particular  etiology  of  the  paramount 
affections,  would  suffice  to  cast  some  light  upon 
the  principal  causes  of  the  unhealthfulness  of 
Mexico  City.  Thus  for  instance:  the  enormous 
figure  representing  deaths  caused  through  affec- 
tions of  the  digestive  organs,  especially  diarrhea 
and  enteritis,  which  cause  in  excess  of  four  thou- 
sand three  htmdred  deaths,  might  point  to  bad 
or  deficient  food,  inclusive  of  water.  The  large 
proportion  of  deaths  due  to  tuberculosis,  from 
the  group  of  ^'general  diseases,"  might  be  taken 
as  a  sure  sign  of  the  sanitary  defects  of  dwellings. 
The  number  of  deaths  due  to  affections  of  the 
respiratory  organs  might  point  to  unsatisfactory 
conditions  of  paving,  inefficient  watering  or 
sprinkling,    and    sweeping    of    the    streets,    etc.; 


CAUSES    OF    MORTALITY 

i  -5 

5   i   S 

2  c  > 
c  >  o 

PROPORTION  OF    MORTALITY    PER  THOUSAND 
FOR  THE  DIFFERENT  CAUSES   EXPRESSED 

=   rou.o»SSJ:5Kg8gg8gg 

I      General    diseases 

4306.8 

s 

II     Nervous    and   sensory    diseases 

1365.9 

i 

III    Oiroulation    diseases 

994.8 

g 

IV    Respiratory    diseased 

4329.3 

2 

E 

V     Digestion  -  diseases 

6407.3 

VI     Genito -urinary    diseases 

349.8 

a 

VII    Puerperal 

126.9 

p 

VIII  Shin    and   cellular    tissues 

146.8 

1 

IX    Organs    of  locomotion    and    bones 

20.8 

p 

X     Malformation 

23.6 

u 

XI    First    Infancy 

700.9 

^ 

XII  Senile    debility 

101.3 

S 

XIII  Due    to    external    causes 

685.6 

_ 

: 

XIV  Ill-defined    diseases 

372.7 

1 

TOTAL 

19932.4 

to^ocoSKK    SS88S8SgS 

T 

ABLE  NO.  i 

1. 

Comparison  of  Average  Mortality  in  Mexico  City  1904  to  1913. 

WITH   EXPLANATION  OF  CAUSES  IN  GENERAL  ACCORDING  TO  BERTILLON  CLASSIFICATION 


Causes  of  the  Unheal thfulness       1 1 

and  thus  we  could  go  on  speculating,  with  more 
or  less  basis  in  fact,  with  the  other  groups  of  the 
Bertillon  classification. 

Nevertheless,  in  order  to  better  localize  and 
discern  the  causes  of  the  unhealthfulness  under 
discussion,  as  I  have  said  before — without  regard 
for  the  special  form  of  the  aforesaid  classification 
— ^we  must  ascertain  the  connection  which  must 
exist  between  the  occurrence,  propagation,  and 
development  of  the  most  deadly  diseases  and  the 
conditions  of  life,  individual  and  social,  in  which 
the  inhabitants  of  Mexico  find  themselves. 

We  may  say,  speaking  generally,  that  the 
unhealthfulness  of  a  city  depends  chiefly  on  the 
urban  environment — that  is,  on  the  sum  of  con- 
taminating influences  which  the  abundant  detriti 
of  Hfe  and  of  human  activity  exercise  upon  the 
natural  medium.  It  is  well  known  that  when 
a  certain  number  of  living  beings  are  grouped 
together  and  circumscribed  in  the  field  of  their 
activities  by  fixed  limits,  there  are  then,  neces- 
sarily, produced,  as  a  result  of  social  life,  factors 
of  modification  of  the  medium — contaminating 
the  atmosphere,  the  soil,  and  the  water,  while 
on  the  other  hand  the  said  medium  may  previously 
present,  independent  of  effects  resulting  from  these 
factors  of  contamination,  certain  physical  condi- 
tions quite  unsatisfactory  for  the  normal  life  of 
individuals  making  up  the  social  aggregate. 

The  principal   physical   characteristics   of   the 


12      Causes  of  the  Unhealthfulness 

medium,  with  direct  or  indirect  influence  upon 
the  health  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  city,  are:  the 
temperature^  the  meteoric  conditions  of  the  atmos' 
phere,  windj  rains,  humidity,  etc.;  the  nature  of 
the  soil,  its  geological  constitution,  its  permeability 
or  impermeability,  and  its  topographical  configu- 
ration. 

Having  considered  the  foregoing  physical  char- 
acteristics, we  must  examine  the  various  elements 
of  contamination  of  the  natural  medium.  We 
know  that  the  general  health  in  every  agglomera- 
tion is  the  result  of  the  state  of  health  of  the  indi- 
viduals of  which  it  is  composed,  and  that  these 
work  among  themselves,  upon  one  another,  and 
upon  the  medium  in  very  different  ways:  first, 
by  direct  or  indirect  contagion,  physical  or  moral; 
second,  by  taking  from  the  medium  what  may  be 
necessary  for  life  and  making  restitution  of  the 
part  not  utilized  in  the  form  of  detriti.  These 
proceed  principally  from  food,  which  has  a  de- 
cisive influence  upon  the  physiological  condition 
of  the  individual,  and  the  places  where  these 
detriti  are  accumulated  and  disseminated  in 
the  greatest  quantity  and  consequently  where 
greatest  contaminating  influence  is  exercised  upon 
the  medium,  are,  in  the  first  place,  the  dwelling — • 
of  as  great,  or  perhaps  greater,  influence  upon 
health  as  the  food  itself — and  in  the  second  place, 
the  highways. 

It  would  consequently  seem  logical  to  examine 
the  various  component  factors  of  the  urban  me- 


Causes  of  the  Unhealthfulness       13 

dium  in  Mexico,  which  proceed,  as  much  from 
the  physical  conditions  as  from  the  social  agglo- 
meration, in  the  order  herewith : 

Physical  Characters  oj  the  Medium 

I.    Temperature. 
II.    Humidity,  rains,  winds. 
III.    Geological  and  topographical  constitution. 

Principal  Factors  of  the  Urban  Medium 

I.  The  living  beings. 

II.  The  food. 

III.  Dwellings. 

IV.  Urban  circulation. 

Having  studied  the  principal  causes  of  unhealth- 
fulness, and  measured,  up  to  a  certain  point, 
their  effects  upon  the  general  morbidity  and 
mortality,  it  will  be  easy  to  ascertain  adequate 
means  to  improve  the  disgraceful  physical  and 
moral  condition  of  the  greater  part  of  the  metro- 
politan population.  Now,  as  the  mentioned 
causes  are  manifested,  though  not  with  the  same 
intensity,  yet  with  the  same  preponderance  over 
all  the  others,  in  the  remaining  cities  of  the 
country,  the  relative  conclusions  concerning  the 
inhabitants  of  the  capital  of  the  Republic  can  be 
generalized,  without  committing  in  so  doing  the 
slightest  infraction  against  logic,   so  as   to  apply 


14      Causes  of  the  Unhealthfulness 

to   the   great   majority   of   the   urban    national 
population. 

In  the  concluding  portion  of  this  study,  we  shall 
make,  therefore,  an  expose  and  condensation  of 
the  said  conclusions,  with  the  purpose  of  showing 
a  way  which  may  lead  to  improving  the  conditions 
of  life  for  the  individual  and  for  society,  referring 
to  the  hoi  polloi^  without  which  we  can  obtain 
neither  true  independence  nor  prosperity  for  otir 
fatherland. 


II 

Physical  Characteristics  of  the 
Medium 


15 


CHAPTER  III 

TEMPERATURE 

THE  belief  that  temperature  of  itself  can  be 
one  of  the  direct  causes  of  unhealthfulness 
in  a  city  has  no  basis  in  fact.  Two  facts  catego- 
rically disprove  it.  The  first  is,  that  some  tropical 
cities  have  contrived  to  rapidly  improve  their 
sanitary  conditions  by  means  of  principles  taught 
us  by  hygiene.  For  instance,  Buenos  Ayres  has 
reduced  its  annual  mortality,  in  less  than  thirty 
years,  from  34  to  16.2  deaths  per  thousand. 
Secondly:  cities,  in  certain  instances  close  to  one 
another,  and  under  similar  or  equal  climatic 
conditions,  find  themselves  in  very  different  sani- 
tary conditions.  For  example,  Chandernager  and 
Yanaon,  with  respective  mortalities  of  46.5  and 
22.07;  Russia,  with  an  average  mortality  of  33.4, 
almost  double  that  of  Sweden  and  Norway  (16.3), 
etc.^ 

What  does  have  a  noteworthy  and  direct  influ- 
ence on  public  health,  is,  on  the  one  hand,  heat 
associated  with  dampness,  and,  on  the  other, 
abrupt  changes  in  temperature. 

^  E.  Mac6,  Ed.  Imbeaux,  Albert  Bluzet,  et  Paul  Adam.     Hygi^ 
ene  Generale  des  Villes  et  des  Agglomerations  Communales,  p.  36. 
2  17 


i8  Temperature 

Heat — above  all,  damp  heat — ^is  propitious  to 
the  action  of  microbes,  which  produce  fermentation 
and  putrefaction  of  alimentary  produce.  This 
explains  the  great  mortaHty  occasioned  by  dis- 
orders of  the  digestive  organs,  infant  mortality 
in  hot  countries  being  chiefly  caused  by  diarrhea 
and  enteritis,  and  the  recrudescence  of  these  ills 
in  the  temperate  zone  during  the  hot  season.  It 
is  also  believed  that  heat  and  humidity  favor  the 
evolution  of  pathogenic  germs  of  various  infectious 
diseases.  Probably  for  this  reason,  tetanus  is  more 
grave  in  tropical  countries,  whereas  grippe  and  scar- 
let fever  are  more  often  fatal  in  cool  climates,  etc. 

According  to  data  furnished  by  the  Central 
Meteorological  Observatory,  we  find  that,  during 
the  period  included  between  1904  and  igi2,  there 
were  registered  in  Mexico  City^  in  the  months  of 
April  and  May — which  are  the  hottest — maxima 
absolute  temperatures  fluctuating  between  28.^  and 
J  J. I  degrees  centigrade,  in  the  shade ,  and  between 
J  J, I  and  j6.8  outside.  The  maximum  humidity 
of  the  air,  for  the  same  months,  in  hundredths  of 
saturation,  varied,  under  cover,  between  81  and  98, 
and,  exposed,  betweeen  8j  and  100.  These  figures 
help  us  to  understand  why  in  the  City  of  Mexico 
the  distempers  of  the  digestive  organs  cause  more 
than  six  thousand  four  hundred  deaths  per  year. 
In  this  number  we  have  included  deaths  caused 
by  diarrhea  and  enteritis  which  reach  4591,  of 
which  2190  are  produced  among  children  who  are 
less  than  two  years  old. 


Temperature  19 

As  is  well  known,  colds  form  one  of  the  principal 
causes  of  diseases  of  the  respiratory  organs.  It 
can  be  affirmed  that  Mexico  is  the  classical  city 
of  abrupt  changes  in  temperature^  since,  in  the 
period  of  nine  years  above  considered,  there  have 
been  registered  thermic  oscillations  of  daily  maxima 
from  18.2  to  22,2  degrees  centigrade,  in  the  shade, 
and  26.2  to  J0.4  out  in  the  open.  The  number 
of  deaths  per  year,  on  the  average,  caused  by  affec- 
tions of  the  respiratory  organs,  is  432 g. 

It  must  be  noted,  however,  that  the  noxious 
effects  of  the  damp  heat,  and  of  the  sudden  changes 
of  temperature  upon  the  public  health,  are  greatly 
increased  by  the  deplorable  coexistence  of  other 
factors,  such  as:  the  physiological  poverty  of  the 
individuals;  the  wretched  condition  of  their  dwellings; 
and  above  all  their  unsanitary  habits  and  dense 
ignorance.  This  means  that,  though  it  may  be 
impossible  to  work  upon  the  medium  so  as  to 
improve  the  natural  conditions  of  temperature, 
it  is  nevertheless  possible  to  prevent,  or,  in  any 
event,  to  greatly  diminish  its  noxiousness  upon 
the  human  organism,  by  acting  properly  upon 
the  other  factors  noted.  The  frightful  figures 
above  given,  having  reference  to  the  rate  of  mortality, 
will  serve  to  set  forth  the  imperious  necessity  of  im- 
proving the  economic  condition  of  the  lower  classes 
and  the  sanitary  condition  of  their  dwellings,  and 
the  need  of  making  a  vigorous  and  extensive  propa- 
ganda of  the  elemental  principles  of  hygiene. 


CHAPTER  IV 

HUMIDITY,  RAINS,  WINDS 

FROM  the  hygrometric  point  of  view,  an  ideal 
atmospheric  state  is  taken  to  be  that  cor- 
responding to  a  saturation  of  50  to  60  hiindredths, 
and  it  is  accepted  that  the  range  within  which 
this  hygrometric  condition  is  not  materially  pre- 
judicial, extends  from  25  to  80  hundredths  of 
saturation.  Beyond  these  hmits,  the  air  becomes 
iinhealthful,  due  to  extreme  dryness  or  to  extreme 
dampness,  respectively,  especially  in  the  latter 
case,  if  a  high  temperature  should  happen  to  com- 
bine with  the  dampness.  Cold  itself  ceases  to 
be  healthful  and  bracing,  if  it  be  unduly  hiimid. 
In  the  City  of  Mexico^  as  I  have  said  before,  the 
maximum  humidity  of  the  atmosphere,  during  the 
hottest  months  of  the  year,  not  only  exceeds 
the  highest  admitted  limit  of  80  hundredths,  but  it 
reaches  the  grade  of  absolute  saturation  of  100, 

Admittedly,  rains  of  themselves  are  beneficial  for 
the  public  health,  due  to  their  purifying  action  upon 
the  atmosphere.  However,  they  have  direct  influ- 
ence in  maintaining  a  noxious  state  of  dampness, 
which  arises  from  the  annual  precipitation,  the 

20 


Humidity,  Rains,  Winds  21 

number  of  rainy  days  and  their  distribution 
during  the  year,  and  also  as  a  result  of  stagna- 
tion. In  the  City  of  Mexico  rains  occur  during 
almost  all  the  months  of  the  year^  and  the  total 
number  of  rainy  days  varied^  during  the  period 
under  consideration,  from  the  minimum  of  125 
days,  in  iQog,  to  the  maximum  of  lyS  days,  during 
igo4. 

The  conditions  in  which  the  city  finds  itself  as 
regards  stagnation  or  evacuation  of  the  rains, 
and  their  connection  with  pubHc  health,  will  be 
examined  farther  on,  when  we  deal  with  the 
geological  nature  and  the  topographical  configura- 
tion of  the  soil. 

Winds  may  be  noxious  or  beneficial.  They 
may  serve  to  renovate  the  city's  impure  air,  or, 
on  the  contrary,  owing  to  their  force,  they  may 
cause  such  dust  and  particles  as  may  be  on  the 
ground,  on  the  floors  of  terraces,  or  back-yards, 
etc.,  to  rise  up  and  remain  in  the  air.  Or,  carry- 
ing them  from  the  neighborhood  of  cities,  they 
may  take  with  them  pathogenic  germs,  specially 
those  of  breaking  out  of  eruptive  fevers,  and 
those  of  tuberculosis  from  the  expectorations  of 
consumptives.  Moreover,  winds  increase  the  prob- 
ability of  taking  cold,  and  consequently  predis- 
pose people  to  inflammation  of  the  respiratory 
organs. 

The  dominating  and  prevailing  winds  in  the 
City  of  Mexico  are,  generally,  the  northern,  and  the 
northwestern t  and  sometimes  those  of  the  northeast. 


22  Humidity,  Rains,  Winds 

That  is  to  say,  they  proceed  from  the  valley  regions 
which  are  most  destitute  of  vegetation.  Its  maximum 
velocity  fluctuated  during  the  years  of  IQ04  to  igi2y 
"between  j6.p  kilometers  per  hour  for  the  year  igo8j 
and  pj  kilometers  for  190'/.  The  average  annual 
death  rate  caused  hy  disease  in  the  etiology  of  which 
winds  may  play  a  part — either  carrying  pathogenic 
germs  or  provoking  colds,  or  driving  dust  particles 
which  traumatize  the  breathing  apparatus — exceeds 
seven  thousand  two  hundred  deaths,  ^ 

'  Average  death  rate  in  Mexico  City  occasioned  by  illnesses  in 
whose  etiology  winds  may  play  a  part,  during  the  cycle  from 
1904  to  1912. 

I.      GENERAL  DISEASES 

Sickness  Deaths 

Typhus 642.0 

Pox 345.4 

Scarlet  fever 124.2 

Erysipelas 1 12.I 

Chicken  pox 136.8 

Diphtheria  and  croup 79.7 

Grippe 100.8 

Whooping  cough 133-7 

Tetanus  or  lock-jaw 1.7 

Lung  tuberculosis 1 170.8 

Meninges     "        50.3 

Larynx         "        18.0 

General        " 67.3 

Abdominal  "        220.2 

Acute  miliary  tuberculosis 0.9 

Of  other  organs 17.6 

Acute  rheumatism  of  the  joints 23.6 

3245.1 

II.      SICKNESS  OF  THE    NERVOUS     SYSTEM    AND    OF  THE   SENSORY 

ORGANS 

Tetanus 5.9 

5-9 


Humidity,  Rains,  Winds  23 

From  the  preceding  figures  we  discover  the 
expediency,  on  the  one  hand,  of  bringing  about 
forestal  development  and  agricultural  activity  along 
the  regions  which  surround  the  city,  especially  in  the 
regions  of  the  north,  the  northwest,  and  northeast, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  imperious  necessity  of 
avoiding,  or  at  least  of  diminishing,  the  dissemina- 
tion of  particles  of  dust,  by  causing  them  to  adhere 
to  the  soil  as  much  as  possible,  as  the  result  of  proper 
paving  and  copious  sprinkling  and  waterings. 

III.       SICKNESS   OF   THE    RESPIRATORY    ORGANS 

Larynx  affections 69.4 

Acute  bronchitis 11 15.8 

Bronchial-pneumonia 922.3 

Pneumonia 1529.9 

Pleurisy 78.9 

Congestion,  and  lung  apoplexy 215.3 


IV.      SICKNESS  OF  THE   DIGESTIVE   ORGANS 

Angina  pectoris  and  pharynx  affections 14.6 

V.      PUERPERAL  CONDITION 

Puerperal  septicaemia 82.7 


3931.6 


14.6 


82.7 


Total 7279.9 


CHAPTER  V 

GEOLOGICAL   CONSTITUTION   AND   TOPOGRAPHY 

THOUGH,  as  Bon  jean  affirms,  there  may  not 
be  such  a  thing  as  "strictly  telluric  epi- 
demics"— ^which  means  that  the  causes  of  a  city's 
tmhealthfulness  cannot  He,  wholly  or  partially, 
in  the  intrinsic  nature  of  the  land  whereon  it  is 
constructed — nevertheless  there  is  a  marked  in- 
fluence exerted  upon  the  health  of  the  inhabitants 
by  conditions  of  soil  which  may  favor  the  stagna- 
tion of  water,  or  the  permanent  impregnation  of 
the  subjacent  layers — that  is  to  say,  by  the  degree 
of  permeability  of  the  soil  and  its  topographical 
configuration.  Besides  the  influence  which  waters 
impregnating  the  superficial  layers  exert  upon  the 
hygrometric  condition  of  the  air,  we  must  remem- 
ber, on  the  one  hand,  the  influence  also  exerted 
on  the  process  of  putrefaction  of  organic  detritiy 
and,  consequently,  the  development  of  many 
species  of  pathogenic  germs,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  from  the  stagnant  waters  are  bred  mosquitoes, 
active  agents  in  spreading  disease,  such  as  malaria 
and  yellow  fever. 

Unquestionably,  in   such  particulars,  the  City 

24 


Geological  Constitution  25 

of  Mexico  could  hardly  find  itself  in  a  much  worse 
condition.  In  spite  of  specific  orders  contained 
in  the  Spanish  laws,  ordering  the  formation  of  a 
City  Council  or  Ayuntamiento — prior  to  all  fur- 
ther steps  to  build  a  city  or  town — in  order  to 
select  the  site  for  the  said  town,  and  with  instruc- 
tions to  see  to  it  that  it  be  ^^  wholesome ^  convenient, 
well  airedf  and  supplied  with  potable  water  and 
building  material,  and  with  adjacent  fields  and 
pastures  for  cattle";  notwithstanding  likewise 
that  the  said  City  Council  was  duly  appointed 
and  convoked,  and  that  nearly  all  its  component 
members  and  the  greater  part  of  the  Conguista' 
dores  voted  in  the  negative,  Hernan  Cortes 
opposed  his  over-ruling  will  to  the  opinions  of 
the  other  functionaries  of  the  Crown,  and  forth- 
with decided  that  the  future  capital  of  New  Spain 
should  be  erected  upon  the  ruins  of  ancient  Tenoch- 
titlan.  And  the  new  city  rose,  even  as  the  former, 
from  the  waters  of  the  lake,  being  "the  very  worst 
site  which  could  have  been  chosen^  and  most  fraught 
with  untoward  hazard."^ 

''The  fact  that  the  City  of  Tenochtitlan  had 
been  founded  on  an  islet  upon  the  shores  of  a  lake" 
— states  Don  Jose  M.  Marroqui^ — "was  the  reason 
that  in  the  days  of  the  Aztecs  there  were  three 
different  styles  of  streets:  some  on  terra  firma, 

*  Letter  from  the  Viceroy  Don  Luis  de  Velasco,  dated  May 
20,  1556,  addressed  to  King  Philip  II.,  concerning  the  floods 
which  had  afflicted  the  region  during  his  administration. 

'  Mexico  Ciiyy  vol.  i.,  pp.  24  and  25. 


26  Geological  Constitution 

flat,  made  by  hand;  others  really  waterways, 
that  is,  canals  on  whose  shores  the  very  doors  of 
the  houses  would  open;  and  some  thoroughfares, 
partly  land  ways  and  partly  waterways,  as  they 
had  longitudinally  throughout  the  center  a  canal, 
and  along  either  side  long  strips  of  land  which  per- 
mitted the  houses  to  intercommunicate.  Hence, 
the  groups  of  houses,  near  the  center,  which  were 
separated  by  the  canals,  and  formed  small  islets. 
Cortes,  in  order  to  trace  the  plans  of  his  new  City, 
seized  the  center  and  drew  a  square  bounded  as 
follows :  East,  by  the  Street  which  we  call  Santisima 
and  the  following,  along  the  same  direction ;  South 
that  of  San  Geronimo;  West,  that  of  Santa  Isabel; 
North,  that  of  Cocheras.  The  space  included 
within  this  square,  which  was  the  best  and  most 
healthful  due  to  the  fact  that  it  was  least  damp^ 
he  devoted  to  the  habitations  of  the  Spaniards, 
and  the  irregular  outlying  strips,  some  of  which 
were  islets^  he  set  apart  for  the  homes  of  the 
Indians  ..." 

The  present  soil  of  the  City  of  Mexico  is  the 
result  of  the  artificial  formations  produced  by  the 
detriti  of  urban  life,  and  the  diversified  and  multi- 
farious activities,  during  nearly  four  himdred 
years,  upon  the  primitive  soil  described  in  the 
preceding  lines — that  is  to  say,  filling  up  gradually 
the  bottom  of  the  original  lake.  Moreover,  as 
all  this  was  the  lowest,  or  one  of  the  lowest  sec- 
tions of  the  Valley  of  Mexico — ^which  is  closed — 
there  resulted  from  all  these  artificial  formations 


Geological  Constitution  27 

as  the  city's  foundation,  a  thin  waterproof  layer 
of  nearly  horizontal  surface — marvelously  favor- 
able for  the  stagnation  of  detriti  liqiiids  and  atmos- 
pheric precipitations — resting  upon  water-soaked 
lands  and  destitute  of  natural  topographic  condi- 
tions for  its  drainage,  since  the  whole  valley  is 
enclosed,  or  walled  in,  so  to  speak. 

It  woiild  consequently  be  hard  to  find  a  loca- 
tion more  disadvantageous  than  this,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  sanitation  and  drainage.  Since, 
however,  as  regards  these,  sanitary  engineering 
knows  no  limits  to  its  skill  and  powers,  we  must 
own  that,  despite  the  sums  of  money  and  energy 
displayed,  first,  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  valley's 
drainage,  and  later  that  of  the  city  itself,  all  that 
could  and  should  have  been  done  was  not  effected, 
considering  the  city's  crying  needs,  and  the  ma- 
terial and  technical  means  of  satisfying  them.  We 
all  well  know  that  some  of  the  city's  quarters  are 
still  preserved  in  a  truly  swampy  condition  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  year. 

Although  it  may  not  be  possible  to  ascertain 
with  precision  what  is  the  coefficient  of  unhealth- 
fulness  corresponding  to  the  natural  conditions 
geologically  and  topographically  considered,  it 
is  meet  that  we  should  sum  up  all  that  precedes 
in  these  conclusions: 

I.  The  error  made  hy  the  city's  founder  in  select- 
ing the  capitaVs  site,  gave  the  maximum  value 
possible  to  the  coefficient  of  unhealthfulness  aforesaid; 

II.  The  value  of  this  coefficient  is  always  in 


28  Geological  Constitution 

inverse  ratio  with  the  degree  of  efficiency  of  the 
required  works  of  urbanization;  and  lastly, 

III.  It  is  possible f  and  of  urgent  expediency,  to 
nullify  said  coefficient  of  unhealthfulnessj  correcting, 
improving,  and  completing  the  works  of  urbanization 
upon  which  it  depends. 


Ill 

Principal  Factors  of  the  Urban 
Medium 


39 


CHAPTER  VI 

LIVING  BEINGS 

THE  noxious  action  of  each  man  upon  his  fel- 
lows, in  every  society,  may  operate  in  two 
ways :  physical  or  moral.  .  The  first  is  the  restdt, 
as  I  have  said  before,  of  the  modifications  brought 
to  the  media  by  the  concourse  of  activities  of  all 
the  men  who,  for  the  gratification  of  their  needs, 
both  individual  and  collective,  make  up  the  social 
agglomeration.  These  modes  of  action,  which 
are  of  great  importance  in  regard  to  the  general 
health,  will  be  studied  in  special  chapters.  Again, 
we  must  consider  the  noxious  condition  which 
proceeds  from  the  transmission  of  morbid  elements, 
through  direct  or  indirect  contact,  of  a  man  with 
his  fellows.  This  mode  of  action  produces  what 
we  term  moral  diseases,  in  which  development  and 
extension  take  an  effective  part,  combined  with 
the  force  of  example,  imitation,  suggestion,  etc. — 
in  a  word,  the  undoubted  and  powerful  influence 
of  the  ambient  medium  upon  education. 

Transmission,  through  contagion,  of  certain 
diseases  may  be  the  cause  of  real  epidemics. 
There  are  diseases  which,  for  their  propagation, 

31 


32  Living  Beings 

do  not  necessitate  that  their  transmitting  agent 
be  the  patient  himself:  diphtheria,  for  instance, 
can  be  transmitted  by  any  one  having  in  his  buccal 
mucosity  LoefSer's  bacillus,  in  a  virulent  state, 
though  the  transmitting  agent  may  not  present 
the  slightest  symptom  of  the  disease.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  many  illnesses;  the  pathogenic 
germs  which  produce  them  may  be  conveyed  by 
healthy  subjects,  or  patients,  or  convalescents. 
Hence,  the  frequent  opportunities  for  contagion 
which  may  occur  in  a  city,  increasing  of  course 
in  proportion  to  its  density,  and  the  extent  of  its 
social  activities. 

The  action  of  domestic  animals  upon  general 
health,  though  of  lesser  importance,  has  a  similar 
character.  They  tend  to  contaminate  the  ambient 
medium,  by  disseminating  decomposing  detriti  in 
dwellings  and  upon  the  highways  and  all  public 
thoroughfares,  besides  being  singularly  effective 
transmitters  of  multitudinous  contagious  diseases. 

Among  the  illnesses  in  whose  etiology  living 
beings  intervene  directly  or  indirectly,  there  are 
some  which,  owing  to  their  closely  interwoven 
relations  with  the  present  social  state,  have  re- 
ceived the  name  of  social  diseases,  A  list  of  these 
should  be  headed  by  hunger.  Not  considering  the 
most  acute  form,  which  causes  death  in  a  Hmited 
space  of  time,  we  mean  chronic  hunger^  slow  in- 
sufficient nutrition,  which  affects  so  direfully  a 
great  portion  of  the  socially  lower  strata,  keeping 
our  common  people,  as  is  well  known,  in  a  pitiful 


Living  Beings  33 

condition  of  physiological  misery,  and  serving  as 
one  of  the  most  deadly  agents  of  our  general 
morbidity  and  mortality. 

In  the  second  place  I  will  note  infant  mortality » 
In  the  City  of  Mexico  we  have  to  record  the  awful 
fact  that  eight  thousand  one  hundred  children  less 
than  five  years  old  die  annually.  In  this  frightful 
toll  of  human  life,  more  than  forty  per  cent,  of  the 
total,  we  must  recognize  surely,  besides  the  physical 
causes  of  contagion,  ^pf  defective  feeding,  and 
unhealthful  habitation,  this  other  vital  cause  of  a 
moral  order:  crass  ignorance  and  lack  of  motherly 
care. 

Then  we  must  enumerate  among  the  serious 
menaces  for  our  society:  Tuberculosis  and  pneu- 
monia,  which  produce  each  more  than  fifteen 
hundred  deaths  per  year;  acute  bronchitis,  11 15 
deaths;  broncho-pneumonia,  922;  typhus,  642; 
simple  meningitis,  542;  alcoholism,  390;  black  and 
small  pox,  345;  syphilis,  148,  etc.,  and  lastly, 
since  after  all  they  result  generally  from  social 
causes,  insanity  and  criminality,  in  whose  produc- 
tion and  propagation  the  ambient  medium,  pov- 
erty, and  alcoholism  play  important  parts. 

The  greater  number  of  the  diseases  under  dis- 
cussion, as  previously  stated,  are  transmissible 
through  direct  or  indirect  contagion.  Through 
the  wonderful  discoveries  of  Pasteur  we  know 
much  of  the  mechanical  transmission  of  contagions, 
and  it  has  been  possible  to  find  media — already 
sanctioned    by    biological    experience — to    effica- 


34  Living  Beings 

ciously  combat  the  pathogenic  germs  which  pro- 
duce the  illnesses,  and  to  give  the  latter  the 
character  of  being  decidedly  avoidable.  We  can 
do  this,  even  if  we  include  in  the  mortality  oc- 
casioned by  contagious  disease,  such  illnesses,  on 
the  one  hand,  as  progressive  locomotor  ataxia  and 
general  paralysis — which  usually  are  the  conse- 
quence of  syphilis^  and,  on  the  other  hand,  peri- 
carditis^ acute  endocarditis,  and  organic  affections 
of  the  heart,  which,  though  not  idiopathic,  proceed 
almost  always,  from  other  transmissible  affec- 
tions. We  can  then  state,  with  assurance  that 
in  the  City  of  Mexico  the  avoidable  diseases,  a  term 
of  expression  which  sounds  decidedly  ironical 
here,  kill,  each  year,  more  than  eleven  thousand 
five  hundred  persons.  ^ 

» Average  death  rate,  caused  through  transmissible  diseases, 
during  the  cycle  1904-1912: 

I.      GENERAL  DISEASES 

Illnesses  Deaths 

Typhus 642.0 

Typhoid  fever 32.4 

Idem  intermittent,  and  palustric  cachexias.  35.7 

Small  and  black  pox 3454 

Scarlet  fever 124.2 

Erysipelas 112.1 

Measles 136.8 

Diphtheria  and  croup 79.7 

Grippe 100.8 

Whooping  cough 133-7 

Cholera  morbus 18.3 

Purulent  infection,  and  septicaemia 55.0 

Rabies 2.7 


i 

Living  Beings                   35  j 

i 

■j 

In  order  that  measures  taken  to  prevent  the  i 

spread  of  contagious  disease  may  give  efficient  I 
results,  it  is  necessary  that  they  be  applied  promptly 

and  efficaciously.     Excluding  the  portion   which,  j 

___^_____^  j 

Dysentery 48.7  '„ 

Tetanus 1.7  j 

Lung  tuberculosis 1 170.8  ] 

Meninges     "         50.3  < 

Larynx        "         18.0  ! 

General       "         67.3  1 

Syphilis 148.4  \ 

Abdominal  tuberculosis 220.2  j 

Acute  miliary  tuberciilosis .9  J 

Other  organs — tuberculosis 17.6  i 

Cancer  of  the  peritoneum,  intestine,  rectum. . .         15.3  | 

White  tumors 7.0  ■ 

Malignant  pustule 0.2  j 

Pott's  disease 8.0 

Acute  articular  rheumatism 23.6  ' 

Leprosy 5.9  < 

Abscess,  and  congestive  idem 0.5  '^ 

Other  epidemical  diseases 2.6  ; 

3625.6 

n.    DISEASES  OF  THE   NERVOUS   SYSTEM  AND   SENSORY  ORGANS  i 

I 

Simple  meningitis 542.2  ' 

Idem  cerebro-spinal 25.9  1 

Progressive  locomotor  ataxia 8.6  '- 

General  paralysis 18.2  '•, 

Tetanus 5.9  j 

598.8  I 

in.      DISEASES    OF    THE    CIRCULATORY    ORGANS  | 

Pericarditis 21.7 

Acute  endocarditis 38.6  j 

Organic  cardiac  affections 735-6  *        ] 

Lymphangitis,  etc 3.7  ' 

799.6  j 


36  Living  Beings 

owing  to  ignorance  or  negligence,  belongs  to  the 
public,  we  can  divide  the  enormous  responsibility 
for  many  avoidable  deaths  between  two  culprits: 
the  physicians  who  are  entrusted  with  the  duty 
of  reporting  all  cases,  and  the  sanitary  authority 
— the  Board  of  Health — ^which  is  entrusted  with 
the  duty  of  efficiently  applying  remedies  and  means 
to  prevent  the  propagation  of  disease. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Board  of  Health,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  the  Law  of  Political  and 
Municipal  Organization  of  1903  did  actually 
concentrate  the  powers  and  attributes  of  this 
body  in  the  President,  has  continued,  up  to  the 

IV.      DISEASES   OF   THE   RESPIRATORY   ORGANS 

Larynx  affections 69.4 

Acute  bronchitis III5«8 

Broncho-pneumonia 922.3 

Pneumonia 1529.9 

Pleurisy 78.9 

Congestion  and  pulmonary  apoplexy 215.3 

3931-6 

V.      DISEASES  OF  THE  DIGESTIVE  ORGANS 

Anginas  and  larynx  affections 14.6 

Chronic  diarrhea 270.7 

"  **       and  enteritis  (two  years  and 

more) 2130.3 

Simple  peritonitis  (except  puerperal) 112. i 

2527.7 

VI.      PUERPERAL   CONDITION 

Puerperal  septicaemia 82.7 

82.7 

Total 1 1,566.6 


Living  Beings  37 

present,  to  act  in  accordance  with  the  Sanitary 
Code  issued  December  30,  1902.  It  has  endeav- 
ored by  virtue  of  authority  to  prevent  the  propa- 
gation of  avoidable  diseases,  and  the  transmission 
of  contagion  and  infection,  and  to  repress  trans- 
gressions against  public  health,  which  are  specified 
in  the  aforesaid  Sanitary  and  Penal  Code.  The 
Board  governs  itself  by  means  of  the  parliamentary 
system,  in  sessions  which  are  held  at  stated  periods, 
twice  a  week,  in  which  twelve  directors  or  mem- 
bers and  the  President  take  part.  This  system 
is  particularly  adapted  to  procrastination,  and 
to  the  weakening  of  responsibility.  The  effective 
individual  responsibility  is  merged  into  the  fictitious 
responsibility  of  an  abstract  entity.  The  rulings 
thus  taken,  in  order  to  be  put  into  execution,  are 
distributed  among  five  sections,  according  to  a 
classification  which — according  to  Doctor  Rafael 
Norma,  ex-secretary  of  the  Board — ^is  utterly 
illogical.  On  the  other  hand,  the  sanitary  inspec- 
tion, whose  cooperation  is  necessary  to  any  resolu- 
tion, no  matter  how  sensible  or  well  timed,  could 
hardly  be  more  singularly  deficient.  The  task 
entrusted  to  the  twenty-two  sanitary  inspectors 
of  the  Federal  District  is  humanly  impossible. 
It  is  their  duty  to  prevent  the  formation  of  sinks 
of  infection  in  individuals  and  dwellings,  a  task 
for  a  physician  and  an  engineer;  to  secure  the 
immediate  destruction  of  those  already  in  exist- 
ence, and  to  conduct  an  active  propaganda  in 
favor  of  scientific  hygiene,  combining  the  duties 


38  Living  Beings 

of  master  and  apostle.  Their  sphere  of  influence 
and  action  is  a  conglomeration  of  districts  containing 
more  -than  seven  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  in- 
habitants j  among  the  largest  part  of  whom  are  found 
the  direst  ignorance  and  economic  and  physiological 
wretchedness.  This  population  is  scattered  over 
an  area  of  nearly  one  thousand  five  hundred  square 
kilometers. 

The  following  synoptic  table — based  on  the 
Census  of  1910  as  regards  population,  and  with 
data  submitted  by  the  same  sanitary  inspectors, 
corresponding  to  191 1,  as  regards  mortality — 
shows  in  an  irrefutable  manner  how  impossible 
said  inspection  is  from  the  viewpoint  of  efficiency: 

If  we  add  that  the  inspectors  are  not  properly 
backed  by  authority,  and  become  merely  a  source 
of  information,  we  can  easily  see  that,  even  in  the 
very  restricted  cases  where  their  efforts  might 
prove  serviceable,  whatever  measures  their  observa- 
tion and  experience  may  have  caused  them  to  suggest 
become,  as  it  were,  stillborn,  subject  to  unpractical 
red-tape  and  woful  procrastination. 

Nothing  can  be  more  forcible  than  the  mere 
enimciation  of  the  horrible  fact,  that  eleven  thou- 
sand five  hundred  preventable  deaths  occur  each 
year.  This  must  serve  to  drive  home  the  urgent 
need  of  instantly  improving  the  regulation  and 
organization  of  the  corresponding  services,  and  of 
ensuring  primarily  the  immediate  reporting  of 
all  dangerous  cases,  and  then  the  prompt  applica- 
tion   of    necessary    measures,    such    as    marking 


MUNIOrPALITIBS 

POPULATION 

o     ,„ 
r     " 

o     ^ 

UJ         < 

=) 
z 

H 

< 

< 

DEATH    RATE 

CAN  READ 

AND 

WRITE 

ONLY 
READ 

CANNOT  READ  NOR  WRITE 

UNKNOWN 

TOTAL 

O 

< 

s  -  ^■ 

<  2  s 
S  S  - 

11.     D. 
C      - 

m    >■ 
< 

LESS  THAN 
12   YEARS 
OF  AGE 

MORE  THAN 
12   YEARS 
OF  AGE 

MEXICO    WARD     I 

41947 
47784 
36045 
29040 
33946 
32444 
24811 
21249 

1424 

1898 

1203 
701 

1076 
956 
711 

1031 

17780 

15346 
10669 
5877 
11546 
9751 
8561 
5324 

26041 
17291 
9877 
6181 
11823 
12290 
11070 
6950 

2606 
2095 
1251 
762 
512 
802 
339 
56 

89798 
84414 
59045 
42561 
58903 
56243 
45492 
34610 

3967 
2625 
1971 
1794 
2409 
2463 
2396 
2614 

3829 
5432 
1705 
1095 
3507 
3723 
1397 
992 

42.6 
64.3 
28.9 
25.7 
59.5 
66.1 
30.7 
28.6 

2 
2 

ID           ID        11 

m           ID       TIT 

ID           ID        IV_ 

ID          "id         V_ 

ID           ID        VI.  _ 
ID           ID       VII 

ID         ID     vin 

TOTAL 
TACUBAYA 

267266 

17941 
15027 
9315 
6637 
9031 
7896 
6572 
4392 
6404 
4812 
6023 
1585 

9000 

805 
474 

157 
145 
260 
226 
200 
215 
183 
359 
156 
3 

84854 

8030 
8870 
9028 
7477 
4752 
4506 
4366 
4638 
4383 
3847 
3132 
1429 

101523 

10718 
11574 

11593 
10077 
7525 
5611 
5516 
6986 
5465 
5236 
3816 
2176 

8423 

58 
142 

171 
244 
105 
80 
37 
13 
165 
103 

471066 

37552 
36087 
30093 
24507 
21812 
18344 
16734 
16268 
15448 
14419 
13230 
5193 

20239 

3699 
3706 
6042 
4950 
3069 
2582 
2787 
3275 
3016 
2523 
2564 
1122 

78.0 

65.1 
13.9 

204.3 
161.6 
28.8 
75.0 
95.2 
277.1 
317.5 
37.5 
57.7 
87.1 

21680 

1337 
1109 

1105 
1073 
923 
967 
769 
635 
562 
569 
570 
180 

46.0 

35.6 
30.7 
36.7 
43.8 
42.3 
52,0 
45.9 
39.0 
36.4 
39.4 
43.0 
34.6 

10 

TACUBA. 

XOCHIMILCO 
IXLAPALAPA. 

MIXCOAC 

GUADALUPE   HIDALGO 

SAN   ANGEL 

MILPA  ALTA 

TLALPAM 

ATZCAPOTZALCO 

COYOACAN. 

GUAJIMALPA 

FEDERAL   DISTRICT 

381901 

12183 

149312 

187816 

9541 

720753 

59574 

1498.8 

31479 

43.7 

22 

Living  Beings  39 

infected  dwellings  by  means  of  posters  or  placards 
{Vaffichage)  so  that  the  public  may  have  the 
precaution  not  to  enter  therein,  making  careful 
research  to  ascertain  the  causes  of  the  contagion^ 
conveniently  isolating  the  patient,  disinfecting  every- 
thing which  he  may  have  contaminated,  and  sup- 
plying and  imposing,  according  to  the  cases,  such 
means  of  prevention  as  vaccination  for  pox^  and 
immunization  for  diphtheria,  rabies,  tetanus,  dys- 
entery, cerebro-spinal  meningitis,  etc. 

To  ensure  more  thoroughly  the  efficacy  of  the 
preceding  sanitary  measures,  we  again  emphasize 
the  necessity  of  these  two  things:  the  economic 
improvement  of  the  masses  of  the  people,  and  their 
hygienic  education, 

*  No  preventive  Is  so  simple  in  its  application,  and  sure  in  its 
resiilts,  as  antivariolous  vaccine;  hence  the  fact  that  civilized  coun- 
tries have  been  able  to  completely  destroy  the  morbidity  of 
small  and  black  pox.  Therefore  the  345  deaths  caused  yearly 
by  these  infections  in  Mexico  City  are  a  most  shameful  stigma 
on  the  good  name  of  our  sanitary  authorities. 


CHAPTER  VII 

NUTRITION 

TO  maintain  the  physiological  equilibrium  of 
the  living  organism — that  is,  to  repair  the 
losses  of  the  tissue  constituents,  and  to  supply  the 
necessary  energy  for  their  functional  activity,  are 
the  requirements  of  nutrition.  Hence  every  com- 
munity needs,  in  order  to  be  fit,  an  adequate 
provision  of  pure  potable  water  and  proper  food. 

I  shall  endeavor  to  study,  in  the  course  of  this 
chapter,  the  nutritive  value  of  water  as  well  as 
of  food,  properly  so  called,  so  as  to  ascertain  the 
conditions  under  which  the  inhabitants  of  Mexico 
City  are  placed  in  these  respects. 

Water 

Water  enters  into  the  constituency  of  the  tissues 
in  such  quantity,  that  it  makes  of  them  a  truly 
aqueous  mass  in  whose  bosom  is  enacted  the  bio- 
logical phenomena  of  living  organisms .  The  himian 
body  contains,  on  the  average,  650  grams  per 
kilogram  of  living  weight;  in  an  individual  of  65 

kilograms  of  weight,  the  water  making  up  his 

40 


Nutrition    .  41 

tissues  would  weigh,  consequently,  something 
more  than  42  kilos. 

i  Variations  in  the  proportion  of  water  in  the 
organism  produce  pathological  dislocations  or 
disturbances  proportional  to  the  gravity  of  the 
said  variations.  The  diminution  of  water  in  the 
blood  occasions  a  diminution  twice  as  great  of 
the  water  in  the  muscles,  and  these  pathological 
consequences  are  exteriorized,  when  this  diminu- 
tion is  very  small,  by  means  of  simple  pains.  But 
let  the  decrease  reach  only  three  per  cent,  of  the 
normal  proportion  of  water,  and  behold  the 
kidneys  can  no  longer  eliminate  the  insoluble 
cellular  detriti,  and  death  results  through  auto- 
intoxication. ^ 

When  on  the  contrary  there  is  an  excess  of 
water  in  the  organism,  the  elimination  through 
the  kidneys  and  skin  carries  organic  and  mineral 
compounds,  and  produces  an  exaggeration  of 
dissimilation.  ^ 

A  man  at  rest  eliminates  daily  through  the 
kidneys,  intestines,  lungs,  something  more  than 
twenty-four  cubic  centimeters  of  water  for  each 
kilogram  of  Hving  weight.  Energetic  work,  upon 
increasing  pulmonary  evaporation  and  provoking 
with  activity  the  cutaneous  evaporation,  causes  a 
considerable  rise  in  the  daily  elimination  of  water 
by  the  human  organism.  Now,  as  a  part  of  the 
water  eliminated  proceeds — according  to  Voit — 
from  the  oxidation  of  the  hydrogen  of  the  hydro- 

^  J.  Ogier  et  Ed.  Bonjeau,  Le  Sol  et  VEau,  pp.  202  and  204. 


42  Nutrition 

carbon  compounds,  and  of  the  chemical  reactions, 
the  minimiim  quantities  required  per  day,  for  a 
man  weighing  sixty-five  kilograms,  were  he  at 
rest  or  at  work,  would  be,  respectively,  one  liter 
and  three  quarters,  and  two  liters  and  a  half.^ 

We  can  therefore  state,  in  view  of  the  preced- 
ing, that  the  real  function  of  water,  or  at  least  its 
most  important  duty  from  the  point  of  view  of 
nutrition,  consists  in  supplying  the  said  losses  of 
liquid,  inherent  to  the  fimctional  activity  of  the 
organism.  "Now,"  says  Pouchet,''  "the  propor- 
tion of  mineral  salts  and  dissolved  gases  hardly 
preoccupies  the  hygienist  any  more.  .  .  .  Long 
distance  navigation,  and  the  impossibility  of  con- 
serving water  sweet  for  long  spaces  of  time  in 
tropical  climates  (aiding  nutrition  with  distilled 
water),  greatly  modified  the  old  ways  of  apprais- 
ing the  qualities  of  the  water.  .  .  .  The  organolep- 
tical  qualities,  to  which  formerly  such  important 
attributes  were  ascribed ,  nowadays  offer  but  mediocre 
interest,  and  can  assuredly  be  presented  as  secondary 
qualities.^* 

What  is  unquestioned  is  the  powerful  influence 
— the  effects  of  which  are  manifested  under  the 
form  of  endemics,  epidemics,  or  increase  in  mortal- 
ity— exerted  by  the  water  constimed,  upon  the 
general  health  of  the  commtmity,  whenever  it 
happens  to  be  contaminated.  To  satisfy  the 
numerous  individual  and  collective  requirements 

*  J.  Ogier  et  Ed.  Bonjeau,  Le  Sol  et  VEau,  pp.  202  and  203. 
"  Annates  d'hygine  et  de  medicine  legale^  vol.  xxv.,  April,  1891. 


Nutrition  43 

of  a  community,  water  acts  on  the  public  health, 
both  directly  and  indirectly:  as  food,  as  cleansing 
agent  of  the  human  body,  of  linen  and  clothes,  of 
dwellings,  of  the  city;  and  in  a  thousand  differ- 
ent ways,  corresponding  to  the  different  ways 
of  utilizing  water  for  economic  and  industrial 
uses. 

Limiting  my  remarks,  for  the  present,  to  the 
application  or  use  of  water  as  food,  we  can  say 
that  water  acts  directly  upon  the  health  of  indi- 
viduals through  its  temperature,  and  especially 
through  its  degree  of  impurity.  Hence  the  reason 
that  all  modem  hygienists  are  completely  agreed 
in  considering  the  freshness,  and  above  all  the 
chemical,  biological,  and  bacteriological  purity — 
understanding  as  such  the  absence  of  all  noxious 
substance,  and  of  all  living  organism,  plant 
or  animal,  of  deleterious  effect  —  as  being  the 
sole  essential  characteristic  conditions  oj  drinking 
water. 

After  mentioning  the  hygienic  drawbacks  of 
overcharged  waters,  which,  surcharged  with  in- 
offensive or  toxic  mineral  substances,  with  organic 
matter,  as  well  as  with  the  products  of  decomposi- 
tion of  such  substances,  bring  on  diarrhea  and 
predispose  to  infection — a  wonderful  preparation 
for  the  generation  of  pathogenic  germs; — after 
noting,  that  many  parasites  conveyed  by  water 
can  seriously  affect  animal  organism,  and  that 
dysentery,  cholera,  and  typhoid  fever  are  the  three 
hydric  illnesses   par   excellence — I  must   reiterate 


44  Nutrition 

what  is  but  too  well  known,  that  the  water  con- 
sumed  hy  the  inhabitants  oj  the  metropolis  has,  until 
very  recently,  presented,  owing  to  its  defective 
conduits  and  distribution,  all  the  characters  of 
chemical,  biological,  and  bacteriological  impurity, 
rendering  it  one  of  the  determining  causes  of  the 
mortality  and,  above  all,  of  the  extreme  morbidity 
of  Mexico  City. 

It  is  fair  to  assert  that  the  conditions  affecting 
the  drinking  water  have  been  lately  improved  to 
a  remarkable  degree.  The  water  coming  from 
the  springs  of  the  southerly  part  of  the  valley — 
Noria,  Quetzalapa,  Nativitas,  etc. — taken  up  at 
its  point  of  issue,  carried  in  an  enclosed  aqueduct, 
and  distributed  by  means  of  a  most  modern  pipe 
system,  reaches  the  houses,  and  we  may  say  the 
very  lips  of  the  consumers,  in  a  remarkable  con- 
dition of  freshness.  Such  are  its  conditions  of 
purity,  that  from  December,  igi2,  and  during  the 
whole  of  jgij  there  were  carried  on  monthly  eX' 
aminations  of  the  water,  tailing  samples  analyzed 
from  scattered  houses  throughout  the  city,  and  the 
results  ascertained  proved  that  the  average  number 
of  aerobic  bacteria  per  cubic  centimeter  barely 
reached  eight — with  extreme  fluctuations  from  three 
to  seventeen — these  figures  corresponding,  accord- 
ing to  Miguel's  classification,  to  the  category  of 
* '  exceedingly  pure  water, "  ^ 

^  Drs.  Francisco  Paz  and  0.  Gonzalez  Fabela.  Bacteriological 
Analysis  of  Xochimilco  Waters,  practiced  at  the  laboratory  of  the 
Board  of  Health  of  Mexico,  January,  1914. 


Nutrition  45 

But  as  the  general  sanitary  condition  of  a  city 
is  the  result  of  the  complete  and  simultaneous 
satisfaction  of  all  fundamental  hygienic  needs  of 
individuals  and  of  the  community,  it  may  be 
stated — without  the  faintest  intention  of  exagger- 
ating— that  the  isolated  satisfaction  of  only  one  of 
the  sad  requirements^  in  view  of  the  frightful  in- 
fractions of  elemental  hygiene  depicted  in  the  pages 
of  this  treatise,  has  about  the  same  effect  as  that 
of  a  weak  ray  of  light  projected  into  a  pitch  dark 
abyss. 

Foods,  Properly  So- Called 

In  order  to  realize  the  physiological  object  of 
feeding,  it  is  necessary  that  the  constituent  sub- 
stances of  the  daily  normal  ration  measure  up  to 
a  certain  condition  of  quality  and  quantity. 
These  substances — taken  by  man  from  the  three 
kingdoms  of  nature — are  of  complex  make-up, 
but  they  may  be  decomposed  into  simple  organic 
principles,  among  which  albuminoids,  fats,  and 
carbohydrates  are  of  preponderant  and  decisive 
importance.  We  must  therefore  have  a  mixed 
regimen  made  up  of  these  nutritive  elements, 
whose  adequate  proportion — from  the  double 
physiological  and  economic  point  of  view — has 
been  approximately  calculated,  by  means  of 
''experiments  in  feeding  with  rations  artificially 
compounded  so  as  to  realize  the  equilibrium  of 
nutrition  (Pettenkofer  and  Voit,  Ranke,  Beneke, 


46  Nutrition 

etc.),  and  by  tabulating  the  general  averages  of 
rations  freely  selected  for  communities  in  good 
health,  strength,  and  physical  and  cerebral  ac- 
tivity" (Forster,  Hock,  Voit,  Atwater,  A.  Gautier, 
Lapicque).^ 

As  regards  the  normal  daily  proportion  of  al- 
bumina  for  an  adult,  while  Voit  and  Pettenkofer 
^x  it  at  1.69  grms.  for  each  kilogram  of  living 
weight — the  figure  accepted  by  nearly  all  physi- 
ologists— Lapicque  estimates  it  at  only  one  gram. 
These  values  would  correspond,  for  an  individual 
of  sixty-five  kilos  in  weight,  to  no  and  65  grams 
respectively.  On  the  other  hand,  Gautier  has 
found  that  in  Paris  an  adult  of  average  weight, 
in  good  health  and  at  rest,  consimies,  approxi- 
mately, 107  grams  of  albimiina  per  day. 

Noting  that  "populations  or  social  categories 
which  have  the  weakest  ration  of  nitrogen  are 
usually  the  most  wretched  and  least  resisting, 
whereas,  on  the  other  hand,  strong,  prosperous 
communities  use  in  their  regimen  a  quantity  of 
albumina  ever  larger  than  the  share  considered 
normal  by  physiologists,'*  and  considering  the 
fact  that  a  small  excess  over  the  normal  theoretical 
proportion,  without  provoking  the  drawbacks  of 
an  excessive  nitrogen  nutrition,  strengthens  the 
resistance  of  the  organism  in  case  of  certain  in- 
fections, notably  that  of  tuberculosis,  Rouget  and 
Dopter  give  the  preference  to  the  high  figures  of 
Voit  and  Pettenkofer,  of   Forster   and  Gautier, 

» J.  Rouget  et  Ch.  Dopter,  HygHne  Alimentairey  p.  126. 


Nutrition  47 

and  conclude  that  the  quantity  of  alhumina  re- 
quired per  day  Jor  an  adult  at  rest  must  oscillate 
between  loy  and  118  gramSj  which  gives  an  average 
value  of  112  to  iij  grams, ' 

Fats  and  carbohydrates,  upon  oxygenating  into 
the  tissues  as  in  a  calorimeter,  generate  heat, 
and  produce,  as  an  ultimate  result,  water  vapor 
and  carbonic  acid.  The  required  proportions  of 
these  substances,  in  order  to  complete,  with  the 
prescribed  quantity  of  albumina,  a  normal  nutri- 
tive ration,  may  be  ascertained,  as  Rouget  and 
Dopter  have  ascertained  it,  by  taking  into  con- 
sideration the  essentially  dynamogenic  character 
of  the  aforesaid  substances. 

In  truth,  in  accordance  with  Riibner,  the  energy 
supplied  by  the  three  fundamental  feeding  prin- 
ciples can  be  expressed  in  calories^  in  the  following 
manner: 

I  gram  of  albumina  generates 4.1  calories 

I     "      of  carbohydrate  (starch).  .  .4.1       " 
I     "      fat ". 9.3      " 

Now,  as  the  number  of  calories  usually  required 
for  the  conservation  of  life  varies  between  2500 
to  3000  for  an  adult  at  rest,  or,  an  average  value 
of  2750  calories  per  day,  and  as  the  albuminoid 
substances  supply 

112  X  4.1=559.2  calories, 

I  Work  previously  quoted,  p.  128. 


48  Nutrition 

the  difference 

2750-559.2  =  2290.8  calories, 

must  be  supplied  by  the  ternary  foods.  Supposing 
that  the  only  source  to  fill  this  deficit  of  energy 
be  supplied  by  the  hydrocarbonate  foods,  the 
required  sum.  of  these  should  be: 

2290.8 

=  55873  grams. 


4.1 

Of  fatty  substances  there  would  be  required 
to  supply  the  same  sum  of  force: 

2290.8 

=  235.57  grams. 

9.3 

Physiologically,  it  is  indispensable  to  associate 
albumina,  fats,  and  carbohydrates.  The  best 
economical  combination  of  these  feeding  principles 
is  that  resulting  from  utilizing  them  in  the  fol- 
lowing respective  proportions: 

I  :  0.5  : 4. 

Following  the  numerical  data  above  referred  to, 
the  formula  for  normal  daily  ration,  for  an  adult 
of  medium  weight,  in  good  health  and  repose, 
would  be': 

'  J.  Rouget  et  Ch.  Dopter,  Hygiine  AUmentaire,  pp.  129  and 
130. 


Nutrition  49 


Grams     Calories 

Albuminoids 112     '     459.2 

Fat 56  520.8 

Carbohydrates 448         1836.8 

2816.8 

Naturally,  this  result  cannot  be  said  to  have  an 
absolute  character.  It  is  possible  to  preserve 
the  equilibrium  of  the  organism  by  combining 
the  three  principles  of  nutrition  in  the  proper 
proportion,  provided  the  formula  be  modified  in 
keeping  with  the  isodynamic  or  isoglycosic  equiva- 
lents of  the  foods,  whether  we  adopt  respectively 
the  theory  of  Riibner,  or  that  of  Chauveau. 

Muscular  work,  necessarily,  provokes  a  greater 
consumption  of  fuel,  and  consequently  the  con- 
servation of  organic  equilibrium  demands  a 
stronger  and  richer  feeding  ration.  According 
to  Herve-Mangon,  this  must  be  capable  of  pro- 
ducing the  following  sums  of  energy: 

For  moderate  work 4200  calories 

"    ordinary       " 4800 

"    heavy^  "   6000        "- 

The  preceding  theoretical  considerations  hav- 
ing fixed  the  daily  normal  nutritive  ration  for  an 
adult  of  average  weight,  in  repose  as  well  as  in 
various  states  of  muscular  activity,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  apply  these  considerations  to  certain  special 
cases,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  true  condition  of 
the  popular  classes,  from  the  point  of  view  of 


50  Nutrition 

nutrition,  in  the  City  of  Mexico.  With  this  object 
in  view  I  have  made  numerous  observations  of 
individuals  and  families  belonging  to  various  social 
scales.  However,  I  think  that  for  the  purposes 
of  this  chapter,  it  will  suffice  to  study  a  single 
family  whose  social  and  economic  condition  ap- 
proaches, or  excels,  that  of  the  majority  of  fami- 
lies in  the  town.  In  these  conditions  are  to  be 
found  the  four  examples  which  form  Appendix  No. 
IV,  the  first  of  which  will  serve  to  make  the  hy- 
gienic analysis  of  the  popular  nutritive  regimen. 

The  said  example  refers  to  a  laborer,  named  Ag- 
ustin  Lopez,  a  man  of  temperate  habits,  who  has 
a  small  family,  composed  of  himself,  his  mother, 
and  his  wife.  The  smallness  of  his  family  gives  it 
a  noteworthy  economic  advantage  over  the  gener- 
ality of  families  of  the  same  social  standing.  He 
works  continually,  excepting  neither  Simdays  nor 
holidays,  in  gardening  and  leveling  the  city's 
parks,  for  which  he  receives  $0.75  per  day.  With 
the  data  furnished  by  the  family  itself  in  the 
month  of  October,  1914 — ^which  data  were  duly 
checked  and  proven  by  me — I  was  able  to  draw 
up  his  weekly  budget,  corresponding  to  the  time  when 
these  data  were  compiled^  and  it  reads  as  follows : 

Expenditure 

Nutrition: 

8  "cuartillos"^  of  com I1.04 

2  "  of  beans 48 


'  N.  of  the  T.     Mexican  measure  equivalent  to  about  2  liters. 


Nutrition  51 

2  kilos  of  meat $  .70 

Peppers .16 

Salt n 

Sugar II 

Coal  and  wood .60 

"Pulque" 42 

$3.6i 

Clothes: 

2  meters  of  "manta"''  or  percale 62 

Washing  clothes: 

Soap 25 

.87 

Rent: 

He  pays  weekly  for  a  narrow  and  damp  room 
in  the  5th  Street  of  Chile  No.  19  Colonia 
Santa  Julia .50 

Hair  cutting: 

He  has  his  hair  cut  every  three  weeks  at  a 

cost  of  $0.20,  making  the  weekly  allotment        .07 

.07 

Total $5.06 

Income 

He  earns  weekly,  at  the  rate  of  ^0.75  daily 5.25 

Weekly  balance  in  his  favor $0.19 

The  perfect  balance  of  this  budget — yielding  a 
balance  in  his  favor  of  barely  nineteen  cents  per  week 
• — is  appalling  in  its  significance.  Any  untoward 
happening,  which  would  prevent  the  head  of  the 
family  from  working  for  a  single  day,  or  which 


^  Coarse  cotton  cloth. 


52 


Nutrition 


might  give  rise  to  an  increase  in  household  expen- 
diture, or  an  increase  in  the  prices  of  articles  of 
first  necessity — at  present  such  are  four  times 
higher  than  those  stipulated; — ^in  short,  any  dis- 
turbing cause,  however  small,  which  might  un- 
balance so  close  an  estimate,  would  cause  tmtold 
suffering  to  the  small  family. 

Let  us  now  see,  whether  the  salary  or  wage, 
of  the  day  laborer  in  question  can,  under  normal 
physiological  conditions,  suffice  to  keep  together 
body  and  soul  for  the  worker  and  for  those  depen- 
dent on  him. 

I  owe  to  my  worthy  friend,  Don  Jose  Terres, 
M.D.,  Director  of  the  National  Medical  Institute, 
the  following  analysis  of  the  three  essential  sub- 
stances which  make  up  the  food  of  the  masses: 


Alhumina 
% 

Fat 
% 

Carbo- 
hydrates 
% 

Indian  corn  or  maize 

Frijoles  or  beans 

8.6 

21.0 
19.0 

4.0 

1-5 
13.0 

73 
62 

Meat 

Applying  these  data,  and  that  given  in  the  pre- 
ceding pages,  it  is  possible  to  subject  to  analysis 
the  nutritive  substances  consumed  per  week  by 
the  family  under  discussion,  and  also  to  deter- 
mine the  relative  quantities  of  energy  produced, 
thus: 


Nutrition 


53 


Grams 

NUMBER  OF  CALORIES 

Partial 

Total 

1 1.2  kilos  Indian  corn  pro- 
duce: 
Albumina 

963.2 

448.0 

8176.0 

798.0 

57.0 

2356.0 

380.0 
260.0 

3949.12 

4166.40 

33521.60 

41,637.12 

13,461.50 

39,76.00 
59,074.62 

Fat 

Carbohydrates 

3.8  kilos  beans  produce: 
Albumina 

3271.80 

530.10 

9659.60 

Fat 

Carbohydrates 

2  kilos  meat  produce : 
Albumina 

1558.00 
2418.00 

Fat 

Sum  total  of  weekly  energy. 

The  omission  which  I  made  in  the  pre- 
vious analysis  of  the  almost  homeopathic  doses 
of  peppers,  sugar,  and  "pulque"  consumed 
by  the  family,  is  more  than  compensated  by 
not  having  taken  into  account  the  great  loss 
of  food  value  which  com  suffers  upon  being 
transformed  into  dough  or  mass,  for  the  mak- 
ing of  tortillas  or  corn  fritters,  as  many  of 
the  food  constituents  of  this  cereal  are  in- 
variably lost  and  dissolved  in  the  heating 
water.  • 

The  sum  of  59,074.62  calories,  which  results 
from  the  analysis  given,  is  the  product,  as  pre- 
viously stated,  of  the  feeding  of  three  persons 


54  Nutrition 

during  seven  days.  The  energy  supplied  per 
person  and  per  day  is  consequently: 

^^'^^' —  =  2813.07  calories, 

a  figure  which  barely  equals  that  representing  the 
energy  consumed  by  an  individual  at  absolute  rest. 
Now,  as  the  three  persons  of  the  example  con- 
sidered do  work  more  or  less  of  a  rough  nature, 
the  man  laboring  as  a  peon  in  the  public  gardens 
and  parks,  and  the  women  in  such  occupations 
as  grinding  maize,  rolling  ^Hortillas,''^  sweeping, 
washing,  ironing,  etc.,  the  ration  of  nutrition  is 
most  deficient.  It  is  so  even  if  we  accept  the 
hypothesis  that  the  work  carried  on  by  these 
people  is  of  the  kind  that  Herve  Mangon  styles 
*' ordinary" — ^which  consumes  4800  calories — and 
it  would  be  necessary  to  increase  the  said  ration  at 
least  seventy  per  cent.,  in  order  euen  to  return  to  the 
organism  the  wastage  caused  by  the  muscular  efort 
expended. 

In  other  terms:  the  item  of  the  weekly  budget 
relative  to  the  feeding  of  the  family  ($3.62)  would 
have  to  be  increased  seventy  per  cent,  or  by  $2.53, 
or  $0.36  daily,  almost  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  daily 
wage.  It  would  have  to  be  raised  from  $0.75 
to  $1.11,  in  order  merely  to  conserve  the  life  of 
the  laborer  and  that  of  the  other  two  persons  who 
are  under  his  immediate  economic  care. 

This  deficit  in  the  laborer's  budget — a  repre- 


Nutrition  55 

sentative  example  of  what  occurs  among  the 
lower  classes  of  the  nation — which  leaves  without 
repair  a  goodly  portion  of  the  energies  spent  in 
daily  labor,  must  fatally  lead,  through  a  pro- 
longed and  painful  agony,  to  the  complete  annihila- 
tion of  our  race.  In  the  face  of  evils  of  so  grave 
a  nature  and  of  calamities  so  imminent  and 
direful,  the  indifference,  or  abstention  of  the  state 
— the  only  power  capable  of  remedying  them — 
would  appear  a  criminal  monstrosity.  Therefore 
it  becomes  imperative  to  prevent — by  means  of  un- 
avoidable legal  regulations — the  salary  from  falling 
lower  than  the  limit  imposed  by  the  complete  satis- 
faction of  the  material  necessaries  of  life. 

But  modem  legislation  goes  farther  still.  Be- 
sides including  as  compulsory  the  precept  of 
^'minimum  salary,"  it  fixes  the  amount  in  such 
a  manner  that  it  permits  not  only  the  satisfaction 
of  the  bare  necessities  of  Hfe  of  an  average  family, 
but  also  such  requirements  as  may  result  from 
the  position  of  the  members  of  this  family  as 
human  beings  living  in  a  civilized  community. 
Compared  with  this  dignified  and  dignifying 
status,  humane  and  just — which  no  one  could 
gainsay  nor  challenge — the  daily  wage  of  the 
great  majority  of  our  workmen  is  becoming  more 
miserable  and  paltry.  In  the  special  case  under 
consideration,  let  us  suppose  that  the  insignificant 
increase  of  $0.89  daily  would  suffice  to  supply  all 
other  necessities  of  a  decorous  life — improvement 
of  dwelling,  clothing,  etc.,  for  a  family  made  up 


56  Nutrition 

of  three  persons.  Then  a  minimum  salary  of 
$2.00  daily  would  be  required — ^in  other  words, 
nearly  three  times  that  received  hy  the  laborer  whose 
condition  we  have  been  studying. 

Before  closing,  I  shall  call  to  mind  that  since 
October,  19 14 — the  time  at  which  the  foregoing 
data  were  taken — the  economical  conditions  of 
the  coimtry  have  grown  worse  so  rapidly,  as  a  con- 
sequence of  the  internecine  strife,  that  on  the 
one  hand  the  cost  of  articles  of  first  necessity  has 
increased  fourfold,  and  on  the  other,  many  sources 
of  employm^ent  have  ceased  to  exist.  Moreover, 
as  a  natural  sequence  of  the  present  phase  of  the 
Revolution,  we  are  yet  far  from  the  magnificent : 
^'  .  .  .  he  despoiled  the  mighty  and  uplifted  the 
humble;  to  those  in  need  he  vouchsafed  plenty,  and 
the  rich  he  stripped  of  all  they  had  amassed.  ..." 
Excluding  the  restricted  military  class,  which 
monopolizes  all  the  privileges  of  the  bureaucratic 
— ^much  more  reduced  than  the  former  and  which 
lives  within  the  official  budget — and  of  the  con- 
temptible group  of  merchants  and  traders  destitute 
of  all  scruples  and  morality,  who  prey  pitilessly 
on  human  wants  and  misery,  it  can  be  said  that 
in  the  great  mass  of  the  national  population, 
wealth  has  turned  to  poverty,  and  there  exists 
the  peril  of  there  arising,  from  the  depths  of  former 
wretchedness,  a  new  disgrace  for  civilization. 
There  may  appear  a  new  heading,  in  the  already 
horrible  table  of  our  national  mortality,  covering 
deaths  through  starvation. 


Nutrition  57 

This  chapter  was  written  in  Vera  Cruz,  in  the 
beginning  of  July,  191 5,  while  the  City  of  Mexico 
was  occupied  by  the  Zapatista  forces.  During 
the  period  of  siege  and  final  occupation  by  the 
forces  of  the  Constitution — July  and  August — 
the  privations  undergone  by  the  inhabitants  of 
the  metropolis  were  such  that  the  fateful  prophecy 
of  deaths  through  starvation  became  a  horrible 
fact.  Subsequently,  the  prices  of  many  articles 
of  first  necessity  not  only  increased  fourfold,  as 
stated,  but  rose  tenfold  as  a  consequence  of  the 
depreciation  in  value  of  the  circulating  medium. 
Unquestionably,  the  physiological  misery  oc- 
casioned among  the  masses  by  such  precarious 
conditions  of  existence  has  been  the  pregnant 
field  for  the  development,  with  intense  energy, 
of  the  recent  epidemic  of  typhus. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

DWELLINGS 

THE  great  influence  of  the  dwelling  upon  indi- 
vidual and  collective  physical  well-being 
is  self-evident.  The  unhealthful  habitation  acts 
directly  upon  the  individual,  transmitting  con- 
tagion, or  submitting  him  to  the  action  of  some 
given  cause,  general  or  permanent,  which  may 
favor  the  breaking  out  of  some  disease,  such  as 
rheumatism,  which  may  be  caused  through  damp- 
ness. Or  it  may  act  indirectly  upon  the  human 
system,  producing  anemia,  which  predisposes  to 
tuberculosis  and  other  affections  which  would 
not  attack  a  stronger  organism.  Calling  to  mind, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  relation  of  living  beings, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  morbidity,  with  urban 
conditions,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  that  just  one 
infected  house  may  be  the  origin  of  a  devastating 
epidemic.  Hence  the  fact,  that  putting  houses 
in  a  healthful  condition,  hy  general  overhauling  or 
other  means,  becomes  the  most  important  part  of 
urban  hygiene. 

Every  house  in  order  to  be  conducive  to  health 
must    fulfill    certain    conditions    of    cleanliness, 

58 


.    Dwellings  59 

drainage^  supply  and  quality  of  watery  humidity, 
ventilation,  thermality,  light,  architectural  distribu* 
tion,  structure,  and  dimensions, 

I  shall  review  these  necessary  conditions,  with 
the  purpose  of  summarizing,  so  far  as  possible, 
their  relations  to  the  state  of  health  in  the  City 
of  Mexico. 

CLEANLINESS,  DRAINS  OF  DETRITI,   AND  DRINKING 
WATER  SUPPLY 

Filth  is  a  heinous  sin,  whether  individual,  house, 
or  town  be  considered.  Cleanliness,  by  preventing 
the  permanent  presence  of  all  kinds  of  residue  and 
detriti  in  the  house  or  street,  eHminates  one  of  the 
most  important  causes  of  contagion,  and  prevents, 
on  the  one  hand,  the  generation  of  putrid  and 
unwholesome  odors,  which  result  from  the  decom- 
position of  said  detriti,  and  which  exert  a  positive 
harmful  action  upon  human  organism,  weakening 
it  and  predisposing  it  to  all  infections.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  prevents  the  breeding  of  parasites 
such  as  bedbugs,  lice,  fleas,  etc.,  the  last  of  which, 
according  to  investigations  made  in  our  hospitals 
by  Ricketts  and  Goldberger,  seem  to  play  an 
important  part  in  the  propagation  of  typhus. 
We  may  say  in  a  few  words,  that  all  hygienists  are 
agreed  in  considering  scrupulous  and  intelligent 
cleanliness  as  the  first  preventive  against  contagious 
disease. 

It  will  sufHce  to  observe  the  filthy  condition 


6o  Dwellings 

of  our  apartment  houses  and  tenements,  in  order 
to  state  that  lack  of  cleanliness  is  one  of  the  principal 
causes  of  the  642  yearly  deaths  through  typhus,  and 
a  general  cause  of  all  the  contagious  diseases,  which 
result  in  11,500  deaths  annually. 

Absolute  cleanliness  of  the  house  depends  not 
only  upon  the  clean  and  orderly  habits  of  the 
tenants,  but  also  upon  certain  building  and  sani- 
tary provisions  which  facilitate  or  render  possible 
such  •  a  condition  of  cleanliness.  Therefore  as 
regards  the  house  itself  we  must,  on  the  one  hand, 
eschew  in  its  construction  such  materials  and 
shapes  as  cannot  be  easily  cleaned,  preferably 
washed,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  we  must  supply 
it  with  means  for  causing  the  rapid  evacuation  of 
all  detritus  and  defecation. 

To  secure  the  former,  it  can  be  specified,  for 
instance,  among  many  other  stipulations,  that 
the  distribution  and  size  of  apertures  be  adequate 
to  provide  satisfactory  lighting;  that  connections 
of  walls,  with  each  other  and  with  roofs  shall 
be  replaced  by  cin^ed  surfaces,  thus  doing  away 
with  ensconcements  and  anf ractuosities ;  that 
walls  be  built  so  as  to  avoid  dampness ;  that  walls, 
floors,  and  roofs  be  perfectly  smooth,  to  prevent 
the  accumulation  of  dust,  and  to  facilitate  wash- 
ing; that  the  floors  be  resisting,  waterproof,  not 
subject  to  rot;  that  they  shall  not  be  cold,  hard, 
creaking,  etc. 

Hygiene  does  not  stop  here,  but  likewise  pre- 
scribes, as  an  indispensable  complement  of  sani- 


Dwellings  6i 

tary  habitation,  the  conditions  governing  the 
class  of  furniture  to  be  used,  the  best  systems 
of  cleansing  and  scrubbing,  etc.  Among  the 
latter,  for  example,  it  recommends  for  re- 
moving dust  from  carpets  and  porous  furni- 
ture, vacuum  cleansing  methods,  which  have 
become  so  popular  in  American  and  Euro- 
pean cities,  and  which  methods  are  utterly 
unknown  in  Mexico,  even  among  the  families  of 
wealth. 

If  we  acknowledge  the  unquestionable  fact  that 
only  the  palaces  of  some  magnates  in  Mexico 
could  satisfy  the  hygienic  prescriptions  already 
mentioned,  and  that  the  immense  majority,  or 
totality,  of  the  houses  inhabited  by  our  middle 
and  lower  classes  are  but  a  heap  of  infractions  of 
the  said  precepts;  if  we  recall  the  asphyxiating 
cloud  of  dust  always  raised  upon  sweeping  either 
the  streets  or  the  floors  of  all  homes,  rich  and  poor, 
we  must  confess  that  the  usual  methods  of  sweep- 
ing and  cleaning  run  counter  to  the  mandates  of 
hygiene,  and  we  shall  have  proven  our  contention 
that  the  lack  of  intelligent  and  scrupulous  cleanli- 
ness in  Mexico  is  one  of  the  determining  causeSy 
as  aforesaid,  of  the  heavy  mortality  caused  by 
contagious  disease. 

Health  demands,  as  is  well  known,  that  all 
detriti  and  sweepings,  once  picked  up,  be  promptly 
removed  from  home  and  city  before  they  have 
the  opportunity  of  giving  forth  putrid  emanations, 
or  of  disseminating  pathogenic  germs  which  might 


62 


Dwellings 


contaminate  the  air,  the  soil,  or  the  water.     The 
detriti  under  consideration  comprise: 

I.  Human  Excrements.  The  following  table 
— due  to  Heiden — makes  known  the  average 
weight  of  fecal  matter  and  of  urine  per  day  per 
inhabitant,  and  the  quantities  of  some  substances 
which  act  as  constituents: 


CHEMICAL  COMPOSITION 


Natural  state 

Solid  substances  (dry) 

Organic  matter 

Nitrogen 

Mineral  substances.  . . 

Phosphoric  acid 

Potassium 


Fecalmatter 

Urine 

Total 

{grams) 

{grams) 

{grams) 

133-0 

1200.0 

I333-0 

30.3 

63.0 

93-3 

25.8 

50.0 

75.8 

2.1 

12. 1 

14.2 

4.5 

13.0 

17.5 

1.64 

1.8 

344 

0.73 

2.22 

2.95 

Lehmann,  Wolff,  and  Pettenkofer  give  figures 
very  similar  to  the  foregoing. 

Therefore,  the  daily  production  of  human  excre- 
ments in  Mexico  City  is  about  62.6^  tons  of  fecal 
matter,  and  565.28  of  urine,  or  a  total  of  62'/. g^ 
tons  of  fetid  and  putrescent  matter. 

Fecal  matter,  according  to  Gilbert  and  Dominici, 
upon  issuing  from  the  intestine,  contains  from 
67,000  to  80,000  germs  per  milligram,  including 
in  these  figures  intestinal  parasites  and  their  eggs. 
Consequently,  every  inhabitant  expels  daily  from 
8gii  to  10,640  millions  of  germs  and  parasites^ 


Dwellings  63 

■j 

ready  to  increase  ad  infinitum  in  the  semi-liquid 
defecations.     Urine    suffers    a    rapid    ammoniac 

fermentation,    and   can   also   contain   pathogenic  j 

germs,  especially  the  typhus  bacillus,  and  that  of  j 

tuberculosis.     This  shows  the  danger  of  the  in-  ' 

veterate   use   of  the   chamber  pot  in   dwellings,  ! 
even  among  the  higher  classes.     Probably  this 

use  was  caused  by  defective  architectural  distri-  ! 

bution.     Also  it  is  necessary  to  combat  the  per-  '' 
nicious  habit  of  the  lower  classes  to  urinate  in  any 

street  corner,  by  means  of  rigorous  punishments,  \ 

and  by  the  establishment  of  all  the  urinals  and  '■ 

public  water-closets  which  the  population  may  j 

require.  j 

We  thus  see  the  great  need  of  rapidly  removing  ] 

from  houses   and  city  all  detriti  and  defecations.  '■< 

It  is  true  that  our  capital  possesses,  for  the  purpose  I 

of   removing    excremental    matter,    residue    and  j 

cleansing  waters,  and  rain  precipitations,  a  network  ! 
of  draining  vaults  and  pipes  connected  with  the 

sanitary  installations  of  the  homes,  and  that  this  ! 

installation  is  devised  and  constructed  according  ! 

to  approved  modern  methods;  but  unfortunately  j 
this  network  does  not  extend  over  the  entire  city, 

nor  do  the  sanitary  installations  work  smoothly.  ; 

There  still  remain  to  be  built  about  sixty  kilometers  \ 

of  piping,  and  more  than  five  and  a  half  kilometers  \ 

of  collectors,   in   some   suburbs   and   neighboring  j 

colonies,  where  the  evacuation  is  still  carried  on  : 
by  means  of  the  most  defective  ancient  canalization^ 
or  by  the  primitive  and  dangerous  system  of  collec- 


64  Dwellings 

Hon  through  casks,  which  method  has  been  utterly 
discarded  and  condemned  by  hygiene.  As  regards 
private  installations,  suffice  it  to  say  that  last 
year  there  were  about  fourteen  thousand  houses 
with  pending  cases  before  the  Board  of  Health,  for 
infractions  of  extant  sanitary  precepts,  and  that 
among  such  houses  there  were  cases  such  as  that 
of  the  home  "which  had  been  visited  seventy-one 
times  by  the  inspection  officials,  without  having 
secured  any  material  improvement  in  conditions 
of  sanitation."^ 

The  cursory  report  of  the  conditions  governing 
evacuation  of  detriti  and  defecations  given  in  the 
foregoing  lines,  warrants  the  assertion  that  among 
the  principal  causes  of  disease  in  Mexico  City  must 
be  reckoned  the  bad  habits  of  the  population,  defi- 
ciency in  works  of  sanitation,  and  the  inefficiency 
of  official  sanitary  inspection. 

2.  Animal  Excrements,  These  generate  dangers 
similar  to  those  which  we  have  enumerated,  with 
one  addition.  Dung,  when  not  kept  in  closed 
receptacles,  presents  a  favorable  condition  for  the 
breeding  of  flies,  and  these  ffies  on  account  of 
their  relation  with  the  equine  species  aid  in  the 
propagation  of  tetanus.  These  insects  carry  the 
small  fecal  particles  adhering  to  their  legs,  and 
deposit  them  everywhere,  on  the  furniture,  on  our 
food,  on  ourselves,  and  thus  constitute  a  serious 
cause  of  infection. 

^  Dr.  Rafael  Norma,  ex-Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Health  of 
Mexico. 


Dwellings  65 

If  the  other  requirements  of  the  public  health 
are  so  deficiently  provided  for  in  Mexico,  although 
the  sanitary  authorities  possess  facilities  for  that 
purpose,  what  shall  be  said  of  the  constant  col- 
lection of  dung  in  closed  boxes,  and  of  its  rapid 
removal  from  the  vicinity  of  houses,  when  these 
operations  have  always  been  left  to  the  exclusive 
concern  of  the  parties  interested?' 

3.  Refuse  and  Residue  Waters,  Under  this 
heading  are  included:  (a)  those  from  the  kitchen, 
which  served  to  wash  vegetables,  meats,  china, 
and  which  convey  fermentable  residue  of  foods, 
greases,  etc.;  {b)  waters  used  for  personal  clean- 
Hness  and  which  contain  epidermical  particles 
with  pathogenic  germs ;  (c)  washing  waters,  similar 
to  the  preceding,  but  which  may  wash  beside 
some  fecal  particles ;  {d)  lastly,  those  used  to  cleanse 
floors  of  dwelHngs,  frequently  pervaded  with 
noxious  dust. 

The  volume  of  these  waters  generally  depends 
upon  the  habits  of  cleanliness  among  the  popula- 
tion, and  upon  the  quantity  of  water  at  the  city's 

^  In  191 1,  I  visited  the  National  Veterinary  and  Agricultural 
School,  to  investigate  its  sanitary  condition,  and  found  among 
many  infractions  of  hygiene,  the  following :  one  of  the  dormitories 
lay  above  the  stable  for  diseased  horses,  in  such  way  as  to  be  sepa- 
rated only  by  means  of  a  floor  formed  with  boards,  in  a  vile 
state  of  preservation,  nailed  over  wooden  beams.  The  emana- 
tions produced  by  the  decomposition  of  dung  and  liquid  dejecta 
of  diseased  animals,  upon  a  stone  and  undrained  floor,  could 
pass  freely  through  the  gaping  interstices  between  the  boards 
of  the  floor,  to  invade  a  dormitory  where  twenty-seven  beds 
were  prepared  for  the  students. 
s 


66  Dwellings 

• 

disposal.  They  are  always  highly  fermentable, 
and  as  such  decidedly  noxious.  To  corroborate 
the  conclusions  concerning  the  defective  manner 
in  which  the  evacuation  of  excremental  matter 
in  our  capital  is  carried  on — since  the  waste 
waters  must  _be  evacuated  through  the  same  ca- 
nalization— I  shall  mention  two  causes  of  public 
disease,  resulting  from  the  frequency  with  which 
dwellers  throw  into  the  yards  of  many  tenements 
the  whole  or  most  of  the  waste  waters,  and  from 
the  custom  of  washing  clothes,  even  those  of  the 
sick,  without  previous  disinfection,  in  the  common 
wash  sinks  of  these  yards. 

4.  Sweepings.  The  principal  constituents  of 
sweepings  are:  (a)  vegetable  and  animal  residue, 
highly  putrescent,  proceeding  from  the  kitchen; 
{h)  ashes,  other  residues  of  furnaces,  stoves, 
pieces  of  china,  etc. ;  {c)  sweepings  from  dwellings, 
which  may  contain,  especially  if  inhabited  by 
some  patient  suffering  from  some  infection,  patho- 
genic germs;  {d)  combustible  substances  such  as 
paper,  corks,  pieces  of  wood,  etc. ;  {e)  lastly,  metallic 
objects,  such  as  tin  cans,  nails,  etc.  The  propor- 
tions in  which  such  elements  find  themselves 
mixed  vary  in  different  cities;  they  vary  even  in 
the  same  city,  according  to  the  time  of  the  year. 
However,  what  does  characterize  the  assortment, 
at  all  times  and  places,  is  its  extreme  putrescence. 

Lacking  precise  data  regarding  the  special 
composition  of  sweepings  and  filth  of  Mexico 
City,  I  shall  mention  as  an  example,  in  order  to 


Dwellings 


67 


give  an  idea  of  the  general  character  of  the  said 
detriti,  the  result  of  the  analysis  made  by  Ladureau 
and  Violette,  of  the  sweepings  of  Lille  City: 


CHEMICAL  COMPOSITION 

Recent 
Sweepings 

Old 
Sweepings 

Water  proportion 

% 

30.50 

2.07 
16.43 
0.88 
0.67 
1.24 

46.57 
1.64 

100.00 

% 
34.25 

1.82 

16.93 

1.06 

0.64 

5-35 

39.03 
0.92 

100.00 

Organic  nitrogen  matter,  and  ammo- 
niac salts 

Non-mtrogenic  organic  matter 

Lime  phosphate 

Potassium  and  soda  (soluble)  salts. . 
Carbonate  and  sulphate  of  lime .... 
Iron   oxide,  silica,  and  silicates  sol- 
uble   

Magnesia 

Totals 

Value  in  francs  of  the  ton  as  fertilizer. 

7-1 

6.25 

The  production  of  sweepings  in  a  city  varies 
generally  from  0.5  kilos  to  one  kilo  per  head  per 
day.  Taking  the  average  of  o.y^  kilos  for 
Mexico  City,  this  would  produce  daily  3 S3 -3  tons, 
or,  since  the  average  density  of  these  detriti  is 
estimated  at  0.600  approximately,  588.8  cubic 
meters  of  sweepings,  which  are,  the  same  as  excre- 
mental  matter,  putrescent  and  ill-smelling. 

Precisely  because  of  this  character  of  putres- 
cence, all  agree  in  demanding  that  the  operation 
of  withdrawing  filth  and  sweepings  from  houses 


68  Dwellings 

and  streets  be  effected  daily;  that  it  be  carried 
out  during  the  night  or  during  the  first  hours  of 
the  morning,  and  in  a  manner  to  safeguard  it  from 
the  effects  of  sun  and  wind,  so  that  organic  matter 
contained  in  these  sweepings  shall  not  be  decom- 
posed and  scattered.  That  is  to  say,  that  the 
collection  and  transportation  be  effected  in  her- 
metically sealed  metal  receptacles.  This  will  not 
suffice.  Once  the  sweepings  have  been  collected 
and  carried  away  from  the  city,  it  is  necessary 
to  destroy  them,  in  order  not  to  constitute,  by 
their  simple  deposit,  a  new  danger.  This  may 
be  done  by  means  of  their  industrial  utilization, 
or  by  their  incineration. 

Since  Mexico  City  is  far  from  fulfilling  such 
requisites,  with  its  primitive  ''Rabones  and  Guayines 
CarSy''  permeable  and  uncovered,  which  circulate 
along  streets  and  highways  at  all  hours  of  the. 
day,  collecting,  in  old  wooden  packing  cases, 
sweepings  deposited  at  street  corners,  or  near 
yards  or  hallways  of  houses,  which  later  are  to 
be  thrown  in  the  waste  fields  of  Pefion  and  Niiio 
Perdido,  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city  itself,  we  must 
recognize  in  the  notorious  deficiency  of  this  service 
another  cause  of  contamination  of  the  urban  ambient, 
eminently  suited  to  the  propagation  of  contagious 
disease. 

5.  Corpses,  Man  and  animals  extend  their 
noxious  influence  over  the  ambient,  even  after 
death.  However  great  may  be  the  respect  that 
we  may  feel  for  our  dead,  we  are  bound  to  consider 


Dwellings  69 

them,  from  a  hygienic  viewpoint,  as  detriti^  whose 
permanence  in  the  dwelling  engenders  great 
danger  to  the  health  of  the  living,  especially  if 
the  death  has  been  caused  by  contagious  disease. 
Hence  the  expediency  of  removing  them  from 
home  and  city  just  as  quickly  as  possible. 

The  corpses  of  small  animals,  such  as  dogs  and 
cats,  etc.,  are  usually  thrown  out  on  the  high- 
way, whence  they  are  taken  up  in  the  same  way 
as  the  sweepings,  and  dealt  with  in  the  same 
manner. 

Human  corpses,  and  those  of  large  animals  such 
as  horses,  mules,  etc.,  are  buried  or  incinerated. 
Regarding  the  former,  though  it  may  be  con- 
venient for  reasons  of  health  to  remove  them  as 
quickly  as  possible,  since  putrescence  begins 
two  or  three  days  after  the  demise,  they  are 
nevertheless  kept  the  time  required  to  discern 
cases  and  symptoms  of  latent  life,  which  frequently 
may  occur  in  spite  of  the  appearance  of  death. 
I  must  here  call  particular  attention  to  the  dan- 
gers proceeding  from  keeping  in  tenements,  where 
villainous  sanitary  conditions  prevail,  bodies  of 
those  deceased.  Such  dangers  justify  a  prohibi- 
tion to  keep  the  dead  in  such  dwellings,  and  point 
out  the  expediency  of  establishing  in  each  city 
ward  adequate  depositories  for  such  purpose. 
On  the  other  hand,  though  the  city  cemeteries 
and  burial  places  of  Mexico  are,  generally  speak- 
ing, in  satisfactory  hygienic  condition,  still  the 
system  of  cremation,  so  little  used  among  us. 


70  Dwellings 

presents,  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  community's 
health,  great  advantages  over  inhumation. 

If  all  that  precedes  did  not  suffice  to  show  the 
great  influence  of  defective  evacuation  of  detriti 
and  lack  of  cleanliness,  upon  morbidity  and  mortal- 
ity in  Mexico  City,  I  could  quote  very  eloquent 
figures  relative  to  the  variations  in  mortality  in 
some  foreign  cities,  concomitant  with  the  succes- 
sive progress  realized  in  their  sanitation.  For 
instance,  Vienna,  whose  mortality  was  80  per 
100  in  1800,  40.1  for  the  period  from  1851  to 
i860,  and  lastly  only  16.4  in  1911.  "Brussels, 
where  the  water  distribution  dates  from  1855, 
and  the  network  of  vaulted  distributors  dates 
only  from  1875,  the  mortality  of  which  keeps 
arotmd  30  per  thousand  up  to  this  last  year  and 
has  been  reduced  to  nearly  half  since  then  (31. 1 
from  1864  to  1868,  29.1  from  1869  to  1873, 
25.7  from  1874  to  1878,  25.3  from  1879  to  1883,  23.9 
from  1884  to  1888,  22.0  from  1889  to  1893,  19.4 
from  1894  to  1900,  16.6  from  1901  to  1906,  and 
only  15.3  in  1907).  The  abrupt  drop  since  the 
period  1874-1878  will  be  noted."' 

As  regards  the  provision  of  drinking  water, 
since  its  relation  with  public  health  had  been 
already  studied  in  the  chapter  on  ''Nutrition,''^ 
I  shall  here  limit  myself  to  emphasizing  its  impor- 
tance in  the  dwelling,  stating  simply  that  without 
water  there  can  he  no  cleanliness,  hygiene,  or  health. 

^  E.  Mac6,  Ed.  Imbeaux,  Albert  Bluzet,  et  Paul  Adam,  Hygitne 
Generate  des  Villes  et  des  Agglomerations  CommunaleSf  p.  138. 


Dwellings  71 

DAMPNESS 

Humidity  in  the  dwelling  may  proceed  from 
the  atmosphere  or  from  the  soil.  In  the  chapter 
on  ^'Physical  Characteristics  of  the  Medium,'"  I 
stated,  in  general  terms,  the  disadvantageous 
meteorological,  geological,  and  topographic  condi- 
tions of  Mexico  City,  from  the  viewpoint  of  public 
health,  and  I  arrived  at  some  general  conclusions 
in  regard  to  the  means  of  improvement  advised, 
in  such  circumstances,  by  urban  hygiene.  In  the 
following  lines  I  shall  try  to  restrict  my  remarks 
to  the  special  case  of  the  dwelling. 

Though  the  hygrometric  oscillation  of  air  tole- 
rated by  man,  without  appreciable  detriment  to 
his  health,  ranges,  as  previously  stated,  between 
25  and  80  hundredths  of  saturation,  the  grade 
of  humidity  most  favorable  for  organic  functions 
of  pulmonary  and  cutaneous  evaporation  fluctuates 
between  narrower  limits  and  is  principally  subject 
to  the  rise  in  temperature. 

According  to  Riibner,  still  air  with  80  to  90 
per  cent,  of  relative  humidity,  is  almost  unbear- 
able at  25  degrees.  It  accelerates  the  breathing, 
elevates  the  temperature,  and  provokes  panting 
thirst,  more  from  the  need  of  cooling  the  body  than 
from  the  necessity  of  replacing  the  eliminated 
water,  of  which  there  is  little.  For  instance,  "at 
23  deg.  a  man  58  kilos  in  weight  and  at  rest,  who 
eliminated  per  hour  72.82  grams  of  water  steam  in 
dry  air,  of  7  per  cent,  humidity,  could  eliminate 


^2  Dwellings 

only  18.7  grams  in  air  of  84  per  cent."^  One  lives 
and  feels  better  in  deserts  with  45  to  50  degrees 
of  dry  heat,  than  at  25  or  30  degrees  with  the 
humid  heat  of  tropical  countries. 

In  short,  humid  heat  prevents  cutaneous  and 
pulmonary  evaporation  of  the  human  organism, 
and  for  this  reason,  if  its  persistence  be  prolonged, 
may  easily  lead  to  anemia.  Be  it  remembered  in 
this  connection  that,  during  the  period  from  1904 
to  1 9 12,  there  were  registered  in  Mexico  City, 
for  the  hottest  months  of  the  year,  maximum  hu- 
midities from  81  to  98  hundredths  of  saturation, 
in  the  shade,  with  absolute  maximum  tempera- 
tures of  28^.7  to  33°. I,  conditions  which  coincide 
with  those  which  Rubner  considers  as  almost 
unbearable. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  humidity  of  the  ambient 
air  favors  the  loss  of  bodily  heat  through  irradi- 
ation and  conveyance.  This  loss  is  appreciable 
below  the  temperature  of  15°,  the  variation  of 
which  Rubner  estimates  at  0.32  per  cent,  for 
each  hygrometric  degree,  positive  or  negative. 
In  the  City  of  Mexico,  the  average  humidities 
in  the  shade  in  the  winter  season,  during  the  period 
1 904-1 912,  fluctuated  between  47  and  59  hun- 
dredths of  saturation,  and  the  maximum  between 
80  and  100,  with  minimum  absolute  temperatures, 
of  2°. 6  below  zero  to  2°. 5  above  zero. 

Consequently,  the  ambient  humidity  in  Mexico, 
during  prolonged  spaces  of  time — several  months 

*  Rubner  and  Lewaschew. 


Dwellings  73 

per  year — is  notoriously  prejtidicial  to  health, 
because  it  is  associated  with  temperatures  which, 
when  high,  hinder  the  junctions  of  breathing  and 
cutaneous  perspiration,  and  when  low,  provoke  in 
the  organism  considerable  losses  of  heat.  Moreover, 
dampness  always  favors  the  breeding  of  microbes. 

If  we  add  that  nearly  all  the  old  houses  of 
Mexico,  as  well  as  the  greater  part  of  the  new 
tenements — ^where  the  rapacity  of  owners  seeks 
only  scandalous  gain — and  many  basements  of 
wealthy  modern  homes,  where  servants  and  de- 
pendents are  inhumanely  lodged,  are  not  designed 
to  improve  inwardly  the  outward  conditions,  but 
rather  perpetuate  or  exaggerate  the  defects,  we 
shall  have  strengthened  the  conclusions  of  our 
study  of  physical  characteristics  of  the  medkim,  in 
connection  with  the  study  of  insalubrity  in  Mexico 
City.  We  shall  also  have  made  patent  the  ur- 
gency of  formulating  and  placing  in  execution  a 
code  of  edification,  such  as  exists  in  some  American 
cities,  and  of  prescribing  not  only  the  conditions 
of  stability  and  strength  of  buildings,  but  also  their 
hygienic  conditions, 

VENTILATION,  THERMALITY,  LIGHT,  ARCHITECTURAL 
COMPOSITION,   AND  DIMENSIONS 

In  truth,  these  five  conditions  tend,  concur- 
rently, to  insure  in  the  dwelling:  the  air  composi- 
tion, adequate  temperature,  and  the  easy  access 
of  solar  rays. 


74  Dwellings 

Air  Composition 

The  chemical  composition  of  exterior  dry  air  is 
as  follows : 

Oxygen 20.94 

Nitrogen , . . .  78.09 

Argon 0.94 

Carbonic  acid 0.03 

Total 100.00 

and  in  addition  traces  of  hydrogen  and  other 
substances. 

Lung  breathing,  cutaneous  perspiration,  and 
mephitic  emanations  of  the  digestive  tube  are 
very  efficient  causes  of  contamination  of  unven- 
tilated  air.  The  most  important  of  these  is 
breathing,  the  process  whereby  the  organism  takes 
from  the  atmosphere  the  necessary  oxygen  for 
the  combustions  which  uphold  life,  and  expels 
the  products  of  the  said  combustions:  carbonic 
acid  and  water  steam. 

The  noxiousness  of  confined  air  proceeds  chiefly 
from  the  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  which  it  con- 
tains. The  smaller  the  difference  between  the 
tension  of  this  gas  in  the  atmosphere  and  in  vein- 
blood,  the  greater  will  be  the  gaseous  interchange 
in  the  limgs,  and  asphy^xia  may  result,  not  from 
the  lack  of  oxygen,  but  "as  a  consequence*' — as 
Beaunis  states — "of  the  paralysis  of  the  respiratory 
nervous  centers,  resulting  from  fatigue  consequent 
to  the  exaggerated  excitation  of  these  centers  by 
the  carbonic  acid.'* 


Dwellings  75 

Though  the  quantity  of  gas  contained  in  the 
air  may  not  be  capable  of  producing  acute  acci- 
dents, it  can  nevertheless  upon  exceeding  certain 
limits,  render  difficult  the  hematosis  or  conversion 
of  venous  into  arterial  blood,  and  can  weaken  the 
organism's  resistance  to  infectious  disease,  notably 
tuberculosis,  the  germs  of  which  are  so  abundant 
in  dwellings.  It  is  generally  conceded  that  o.ooi 
of  carbonic  acid  is  the  highest  limit  admissible  in 
confined  air  for  breathing  purposes, 

A  man,  at  rest,  emits  about  twenty  liters  of 
carbonic  acid  per  hour;  muscular  efforts  accelerate 
the  activity  of  organic  combustion,  and  double  and 
even  treble  the  volume  emitted.  The  alteration, 
in  this  respect,  which  the  air  of  a  large  hermeti- 
cally sealed  room  of  about  fifty  cubic  meters  would 
undergo,  as  the  result  of  a  person  at  rest  remaining 
therein  during  ten  hours,  would  be  sufficient  to 
increase  the  original  proportion  of  carbonic  acid 
(0.0003)  to  0.0043,  or  more  than  four  times  the 
conceded  maximum  of  respirability  of  confined  air. 
If  the  said  person,  instead  of  being  at  rest,  should 
be  working  muscularly,  or  if  there  should  be  two 
or  three  inactive  persons  within  the  room,  in 
either  case  the  resulting  proportion  of  carbonic 
acid  would  be,  respectively,  more  than  eight  or 
more  than  twelve  times  greater  than  the  admitted 
limit  quoted. 

Nor  is  this  all :  man  exhales  also,  through  breath- 
ing, as  well  as  through  pulmonary  evaporation, 
and   through   cutaneous   eliminations,  other   un- 


76  Dwellings 

known  volatile  gases  and  steam.  If  we  suppose, 
also,  that  within  the  enclosed  room  there  biims, 
for  some  hours,  a  candle  or  petroleum  lamp,  ^  whose 
combustion  not  only  engenders  carbonic  acid, 
but  also  carbon  oxide,  which  is  much  more  poi- 
sonous— and  can  be  tolerated  in  breathing  air 
only  at  o.ooooi,  or  a  himdred  times  lesser  quan- 
tity than  carbonic  acid;  if  we  suppose  that  the 
room,  with  its  only  door,  lacks  ventilation,  that 
there  be  still  preserved  a  part  of  the  two  carbonous 
gases  which  I  have  mentioned,  proceeding  from 
the  previous  combustion  of  some  logs  used  for 
heating,  or  cooking;  if  we  add  the  smoke  of  two 
or  three  cigars,  the  decomposition  in  a  place  always 
damp,  of  putrescent  sweepings,  of  urine  and  defe- 
cations, the  mephitic  emanations  of  dirty  wash- 
ing, of  sebaceous  secretions,  and  of  gases  from 
the  digestive  tube,  and  finally  if  we  imagine  that 
the  three  or  four  persons  enclosed  in  the  room  only 
wash  and  bathe  a  few  times  a  year,  we  shall  have 
drawn  in  words  a  fairly  accurate  picture  of  the 
noxious  atmosphere  breathed  at  the  hour  of  rising 
in  the  dens  inhabited  by  the  great  majority  of 
our  lower  classes.  These  poor  people,  far  from 
restoring  through  hygienic  sleep,  the  forces  wasted 

'Albert  Levy  and  Pecoul,  experimenting  with  the  air  con- 
tained in  a  cyHnder  of  1.60  meters  in  height,  and  0.55  meters  in 
diameter,  found  that  a  stearic  candle  consuming  37  grams  per 
hour  produced,  after  five  hours,  0.005  of  carbonic  acid,  and 
vestiges  of  carbon  oxide,  and  a  petroleum  lamp  consuming  25 
grams  per  hour  produces,  in  the  same  five  hours,  0.0234  of  the 
first,  and  traces  of  the  second. 


Dwellings  77 

by  the  arduous  labors  of  the  day,  absorb  the 
poisons  contaminating  the  confined  air  of  their 
sleeping  rooms,  which  also  serve  for  all  the  other 
intimate  purposes  of  life  and  weaken  still  further 
their  poorly  fed  organisms,  becoming,  as  the 
result  of  anemia  due  to  such  deplorable  conditions, 
a  most  fertile  field  for  the  development  and  pro- 
pagation of  all  contagious  disease,  especially  of 
tuberculosis,  which  is  preeminently  the  poor  man^s 
plague. 

Those  who  know  only  our  capital  and  the  pleasing 
lies  bubbling  to  the  surface  of  our  complicated  me- 
tropolitan life,  which  unctuously  or  criminally  hide 
the  sad  truths  to  be  seen  through  the  thin  veneer, 
may  consider  all  that  precedes  as  sensational 
exaggeration.  To  probe  to  the  truth,  however, 
will  not  even  necessitate  visiting  some  tenement 
of  an  outlying  district,  but  simply  an  apart- 
ment house  (viviendas)  of  some  centric  quarter, 
occupied  by  families  in  easy  circumstances  be- 
longing to  the  middle  classes.  Let  him  who 
doubts  look  and  smell  into  the  den  under  the 
flight  of  stairs,  or  the  basement  under  the  hall, 
let  him  see  the  disgusting  aspect,  and  encounter 
the  fetid  stench  proceeding  from  the  porter's  family 
reeking  in  filth  and  squalor.  This  simple  visit 
will  be  sufficient  to  dispel  any  suspicion  of  exaggera- 
tion which  this  writing  may  have  engendered. 
To  prove  that  I  have  proceeded  in  this  work  with 
the  impartiality  required,  eschewing  all  that  might 
smack  of  sensationalism,  I  emphasize  the  fact  that 


78  Dwellings 

I  have  restricted  my  expose  to  the  mere  physical 
ambient.  The  moral  and  mental  influence  a 
fortiori  must  be  most  deplorable,  as  a  result  of 
this  frightful  animal  promiscuity  of  persons  of 
different  sexes,  and  ages,  so  common  among  the 
lower  classes,  which,  unfortunately,  is  many  times 
more  pernicious  than  the  mere  physical  condition. 

Even  the  hypothesis  of  having  the  place  hermeti- 
cally sealed — the  only  object  of  which  was  to 
render  the  calculation  more  easy,  and  bring  out 
the  contamination  produced  by  breathing  in  con- 
fined air — does  not  constitute,  from  the  technical 
viewpoint,  an  appreciable  alteration  of  the  true 
condition  of  the  problem.  Besides  the  fact  that 
the  small  quantity  of  air  which  might  filter  through 
the  cracks  of  the  door,  might  be  more  harmful  than 
beneficial,  through  its  very  fitfulness,  as  a  cause 
of  colds — since  it  would  be  governed  exclusively 
by  the  variable  difference  in  temperature,  exte- 
rior and  interior,  it  is  easy  to  demonstrate  through 
a  simple  mathematical  calculation,  that  such 
natural  ventilation  co\ild  not  materially  modify 
the  results  obtained  from  the  foregoing  hypothesis. 

Let  us  again  imagine  four  persons  at  rest,  within 
the  same  room  of  fifty  cubic  meters'  capacity — 
which  we  shall  no  longer  consider  as  hermetically 
sealed.     The  relative  formula  is^: 

iLeclerc  de  Pulligny,  Bouling,  Courtois-Suffit,  Le\  y-Simgne, 
and  J.  Courmont.     Hygiene  Industrielle,  p.  145. 
The  formula  is  thus: 
Let  there  be  a  man  emitting  0.02  c.  m.  carbonic  acid  per  hour 


Dwellings  79 

C ,  200 

t  =  2303  V  log-2oo-(N-n)V 
in  which: 
C  =  individual   capacity  =  — =  12.5   cubic   meters. 

V  =  volume  of  air  entering  from  outside  in  cubic 
meters  per  head  and  per  hour. 
n  =  proportion    in    thousandths    of   the    carbonic 
acid  contained  in  the  external  air  =  3. 
N  =  proportion  of  the  same  carbonic  gas,  in  thou- 
sandths, after  t  hours. 

Solving  the  preceding  formula  for  the  case  in 
which  the  value  of  N  is  equal  to  10 — that  is,  to 
the  maximum  admissible  limit  of  contamination  of 

and  dispose  of  a  capacity  of  3  cub.  mts.  with  a  ventilation  of  V 
cub.  mts.  of  air  per  hour,  containing 

n 

1 0000 

of  carbonic  acid.     Let  R  mts.  cubic  be  the  quantity  of  this  gas 

contained  in  capacity  C  at  end  of  time  t,  the  consequent  result 

R^_N_ 
C    I 0000 

the  degree  of  contamination  in  that  time.  During  the  fraction 
of  an  hour  dt  following,  R  will  increase  with  the  carbonic  acid 
brought  by  ventilation  V: 

-^=Vdt; 
1 0000 

plus  the  carbonic  acid  emitted  by  man: 

0.02  dt; 

less  the  carbonic  acid  carried  by  ventilation: 

and  we  have: 

dR  =  (o.02+-^^  V-^  R)  dt. 
^  loooo        C 


8o  Dwellings 

the  breathed  air,  and  for  various  values  of  V,  we 
shall  obtain  the  following  conclusion:  that  Jor 
renovations  of  air  per  head,  and  per  hour  oj  5, 10, 1$, 
and  20  cubic  meters — difficult  to  reach  in  a  regular 
and  constant  manner,  through  natural  ventilation 
afforded  by  the  cracks  of  an  only  door — we  would 
reach  the  maximum  possible  contamination  of  con- 
fined air,  by  carbonic  acid  (0.001),  respectively,  at 
the  end  of: 


2^  minutes 

48  seconds 

32 

24 

37    " 

12 

45    " 

<< 

Hence: 

integrating: 
For 


^^  =dt, 


0.02+—^^  V-^  R 
I 0000        C 


log.  nep.  (0.02+-^-  V-^R)  =  -^t+K 
^       ^    ^  loooo        C  C 

R 
t=o,  7^  = 


C     I 0000' 

that  is,  at  the  beginning,  the  proportion  of  carbonic  acid  is  the 
same  within  and  without.     Hence: 

K=log.  nep.    (0.02), 

and  then,  replacing 

R,         N 

■p^  by 

C        I 0000 

V      ,  /  0.02  \ 

t^=log.nep.  [ W^J'^ 

0.02 V 

1 0000 

and  multiplying  the  two  terms  of  the  fraction  by   loooo  and 

converting  the  equation  to  ordinary  logarithms,  we  have  finally: 

C.      .  2 

t= 2.303  77  log. 


V  ^*  200-(CN-n)  V 


Dwellings  8i 

that  is,  very  small  fractions  oj  the  time  usually 
devoted  to  night  rest. 

But  if  the  preceding  did  not  suffice,  we  could, 
for  instance,  still  employing  the  same  formula, 
reckon  capacities  per  head  (C)  which  would 
require  that  the  contamination  oj  the  confined  air 
through  carbonic  acid,  should  not  exceed  the  maximum 
admissible  limit. oi  o.ooi,  at  the  end  of  ten  hours, 
with  the  samll  renovations  of  air  considered  above 
5,  10,  15,  and  20  cubic  meters,  per  head  and  per 
hour.  We  should  then  find,  that  the  individual 
capacities  of  room  required  would  be,  respectively : 

263.160  cubic  meters 
232.560      *' 
200.000      "  " 

166.666      " 

considerably  higher  than  that  of  12.5  cubic  meters 
per  head,  given  in  our  example. 

The  figures  given  not  only  prove  irrefutably, 
the  vile  condition  of  room  and  ventilation,  in 
relation  to  the  number  of  individuals,  in  the  houses 
of  the  lower  classes  of  Mexico,  as  well  as  many 
inhabited  by  the  middle  classes;  but  also  prove 
the  guilty  tolerance  of  our  Sanitary  Code,  Article 
68  of  which  reads  as  follows:  ^^In  tenement  houses 
to  be  built  or  rebuilt,  in  hotels,  inns,  boarding  houses^ 
and  public  dormitories,  all  rooms  will  have  at  least 
twenty  meters*  cubic  capacity  and  a  door  or  window 
communicating  with  the  outside  air,  and  if  this 
he  impossible,  then  the  ventilating  apertures  which 


82  Dwellings 

may  be  necessary  to  ensure  the  easy  renovation 
of  the  air.  ..."  And  Article  70,  that:  "J/z/to^eZ^, 
hoarding  houses,  inns,  and  public  dormitories  it 
shall  be  forbidden  to  house  a  greater  number  of 
persons  than  that  permitted  by  the  capacity  of 
the  rooms,  so  that  each  individual  may  have  at 
Ms  disposal,  during  sleeps  the  space  of  at  least 
twenty  cubic  meters.'' 

Our  Sanitary  Code  falls  into  the  double  error 
of  believing  that  a  door,  or  window,  or  aperture, 
habitually  closed  when  the  room  is  used  as  dormi- 
tory, can  ensure  "  the  easy  renovation  of  the  air,'* 
and  that  twenty  cubic  meters  per  head  suffices 
— without  adequate  means  of  ventilation — for  a 
prolonged  physiological  sleep.  Besides  it  exempts 
the  tenement  houses,  the  houses  which  most  need 
it,  from  such  provisions  as  are  found  in  the  very 
weak  Article  70,  against  unlimited  confinement  in 
dwellings,  one  of  the  principal  causes,  as  has  been 
shown,  of  the  increasing  mortality  in  Mexico  City. 
But  after  all,  of  what  importance  is  the  laxness 
or  the  insufficiency,  however  great,  of  these  pre- 
scriptions, in  view  of  the  fact,  generally  acknow- 
ledged, that  the  Board  of  Health,  at  times  through 
excessive  indulgence,  or  through  negligence,  and 
nearly  always  through  lack  of  funds,  does  not 
comply  with  nor  enforce  the  regulations? 

It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  reform  and  amend 
the  Sanitary  Code,  prescribing  better  conditions  of 
ventilation  for  all  dwellings,  and  limiting  the  number 
of   persons    living  therein^  using  as  a   basis  the 


Dwellings  83 

cubic  capacity  of  the  sleeping  rooms  and  their  facili- 
ties for  air  renovation.  It  is  even  more  urgent, 
whether  the  preceding  suggestion  is  carried  out  or 
not,  to  endow  the  sanitary  authorities  with  the  apti- 
tude and  power  needed  to  prevent  effectively  all  in- 
fractions of  extant  hygienic  precepts.  In  the  United 
States  and  in  many  European  countries,  the  sani- 
tation of  dwellings  is  backed  by  modus  operandi 
of  a  most  energetic  nature. 

It  has  been  objected  that  among  us  the  sanitary 
intervention  of  the  authorities  in  the  matter  of 
tenement  houses  is  extremely  difficult,  because 
confinement  therein  depends,  chiefly,  on  economic 
conditions  of  the  medium  which  could  not  be 
modified  by  all  the  sanitary  codes  in  the  world. 
I  affirm,  however,  with  a  conviction  based  on  facts, 
that  from  the  days  of  the  Conquest  up  to  the 
present  time  many  of  the  difficulties  which  have 
been  opposed  to  the  moral  and  material  improve- 
ment of  the  lower  classes  have  proceeded  from  the 
special  protection  that  the  upper  classes  have 
always  found  in  these  same  laws  and  government 
regulations.  Thus,  we  could  cite  cases  of  num- 
berless tenement  houses,  horribly  unhealthful, 
from  which  their  owners  derive  enormous  gains. 
Can  we  not  see  in  the  very  omission  of  the  said 
houses  from  Article  70  of  our  Sanitary  Code, 
even  though  we  may  be  reluctant  to  admit  it, 
an  iniquitous  official  protection  of  the  material 
interests  of  the  rich,  at  the  expense  of  the  moral 
and  physical  health  of  the  poor? 


84  Dwellings 

Temperature 

If  we  consider  that  the  great  majority  of  Mexi- 
can houses  lack  adequate  means  of  ventilation, 
of  artificial  heating,  and  of  refrigerating,  and  if 
we  take  into  consideration  the  noteworthy  influ- 
ence that  temperature  combined  with  humidity 
has  on  public  health,  we  must  here  acknowledge 
the  justness  of  the  conclusions  contained  in  Physi- 
cat  Characteristics  of  the  Medium  and  Humidity, 
I  shall  limit  myself  to  setting  forth  in  a  few  lines 
the  noxious  influence  of  abrupt  changes  of 
temperature  aggravated  by  deficiencies  of  construc- 
tion. The  Mexican  dwelling  lacks  those  "transi- 
tion compartments"  such  as  halls,  vestibules, 
etc.,  so  noteworthy  in  American  and  European 
homes,  which  are  so  useful  in  avoiding  the  sudden 
change  from  a  warm  sleeping  room  to  a  cold  and 
windy  yard.  The  necessity  of  these  abrupt  changes, 
resulting  from  the  structure  of  otir  houses,  is  the 
reason  for  our  frequent,  and  at  times  fatal  colds. 

Sun-rays 

The  beneficial  influence  of  sunlight  on  the  health- 
fulness  of  dwellings  is  admirably  expressed  in  the 
old  proverb,  where  the  sun  goes  in  the  doctor  keeps 
out.  Science  has  fully  corroborated  this  through 
recent  discoveries  proving  the  microbe-killing 
action  of  direct  sun-rays,  and  of  even  diffused 
simlight.    We  well  know  the  persistence  of  patho- 


Dwellings  85 

genie  germs,  principally  those  of  tuberculosis,  in 
obscure  and  ill-lighted  places.  Light  has  un- 
explainable  but  sure  beneficial  effects  upon  the 
organism  and  morale  of  mankind,  and  is  one  of  the 
conditions  necessary  to  cleanliness  in  dwellings. 
Hence  the  necessity  of  insuring,  during  the  whole 
year,  direct  sunlight  to  all  habitations. 

Besides  the  natural  and  artificial  atmospheric 
conditions,  such  as  clouds,  smoke,  etc.,  another 
factor  influencing  the  entrance  of  sun-rays  is 
the  architectural  arrangement — that  is  to  say,  the 
situation,  number,  disposition,  and  size  of  the 
apertures,  the  situation  and  size  of  the  coiirt- 
yards,  etc.,  and  also  the  relative  situation  and 
elevation  of  neighboring  houses,  and  the  width  of 
the  streets. 

The  natural  conditions  of  light  in  Mexico  City 
are  expressed  in  this  fact:  during  the  period  from 
1904  to  1 912,  the  annual  number  of  clear  days 
varied  between  90  in  1906,  and  157  in  1908. 
The  annual  average  for  the  nine  years,  was  126, 
or  a  little  over  a  third  of  the  total  number  of  days. 
On  the  other  hand,  industry,  due  to  its  scant 
development,  and  also  to  the  excessive  prices  of 
land,  has  been  expelled  beyond  city  limits,  and 
fortunately  does  not  produce  appreciable  defects 
in  light. 

For  a  house  to  be  well  oriented,  it  is  necessary 
that  the  inhabited  rooms,  throughout  the  year, 
particularly  during  the  morning  hours,  shall  be 
directly  accessible  to  the  action  of  the  sun-rays, 


86  Dwellings 

in  order  to  secure  the  benefits  of  their  microbicidal 
activity.  The  only  orientations  which,  in  Mexico 
City,  satisfy  this  condition  are,  the  east  and 
the  south.  The  west  only  partially  satisfies  this 
condition,  and  renders  the  dormitories  besides 
excessively  warm  during  the  spring  and  summer. 
The  north  must  be  proscribed  absolutely  because 
it  does  not  fulfill  in  any  way  the  condition  enun- 
ciated. The  arrangement  of  the  streets  should 
be  that  which  would  produce  the  best  distribution 
of  the  solar  rays  in  all  dwellings.  Our  capital, 
however,  with  its  streets  in  north-south  and  east- 
west  directions,  must  suffer  from  the  original  sin 
of  its  foundation,  and,  which  is  worse,  from  the 
inefficiency  of  our  sanitary  authorities,  especially 
culpable  during  the  recent  epoch  of  our  great 
expansion. 

Independent  of  the  width  of  the  streets,  or  the 
depth  of  the  courtyards,  the  quantity  and  quality 
of  the  sunlight  penetrating  into  a  room  depend 
upon  the  size,  locality,  and  shape  of  the  windows. 
Experience  has  show^n,  according  to  Emile  Trelat,  ^ 
that,  in  order  to  have  good  conditions  of  lighting, 
the  window  opening  must  take  up  a  fourth  of  the 
wall's  surface.  Its  lower  part  must  be  as  high 
as  possible,  at  least  at  two  thirds  of  the  depth  of 
the  room.  For  a  determined  area  of  opening,  it  is 
better  to  develop  it  in  height  rather  than  in 
width.  The  only  prescriptions  contained  in  our 
Sanitary  Code  in  regard  to  this  are  these :  Articles 

*  Emile  Trelat,  La  Salubrite,  pp.  59  and  60. 


Dwellings  87 

68  and  69  exact  that  ''there  be  in  all  tenement 
houses  to  be  built  or  rebuilt,  in  hotels,  inns,  board- 
ing houses,  and  public  dormitories,"  at  least  a 
door,  window,  or  opening,  communicating  with 
the  outside  air,  and  with  an  area  equal  to  the 
tenth  part  of  the  floor  of  the  room,  but  never  of 
area  less  than  a  square  meter.  Therefore,  the 
extant  regulations,  besides  not  including  all  the 
city's  dwellings,  are  really  insufficient  in  the  face 
of  what  Trelat  counsels  as  the  result  of  experience. 
The  maximum  height  permissible  depends  upon 
the  size  of  the  court  yards  and  the  width  of  the 
streets.  As  to  the  first,  not  to  be  too  profuse,  I 
shall  simply  cite  the  case  of  Cologne  City,  in 
Germany,  the  municipal  regulations  of  which, 
regarding  hygienic  requirements,  may  be  adopted, 
as  an  average,  for  the  regulations  of  European  cities 
of  about  the  same  population  as  that  of  our  own 
city.  The  said  city  is  considered  as  divided  into 
four  zones.  In  the  first,  only  four-story  buildings 
are  allowed,  with  twenty  meters  as  the  maximum 
height,  leaving  free  from  construction  a  tract 
varying  between  20  and  35  per  cent,  of  the  total 
area  of  the  land.  In  the  second  zone  there  can 
be  only  three-story  buildings,  with  a  maximum 
height  of  fifteen  meters,  leaving  free  an  area  from 
35  to  50  per  cent,  of  the  total.  Lastly,  in  the 
third  and  fourth  zones  the  number  of  stories 
must  not  exceed  two,  and  the  maximum  height 
of  the  buildings  eleven  meters,  leaving  without 
occupancy  50  to  60  per  cent,  of  the  total  area  of 


88  Dwellings 

the  land.  In  the  fourth  zone  besides,  it  is  pre- 
scribed that  two  contiguous  buildings  must  be 
separated  by  a  free  space  of  at  least  ten  meters 
in  width. 

Article  63  of  our  Sanitary  Code  states:  "The 
site  of  the  yards  and  the  disposition  of  the  pas- 
sages shall  be  such  that  ventilation  and  light  be 
afforded  to  all  dwellings,  in  keeping  with  the  pre- 
scriptions of  the  respective  regulations.''  But 
up  to  datCy  fourteen  years  after  the  enactment  of  the 
said  codej  the  foregoing  regtdations  have  not  yet 
been  issued  nor  framed.  We  can  all  prove  that 
the  building  in  Mexico  of  many  rentable  houses 
has  been  controlled  not  by  hygienic  considerations, 
which  have  been  utterly  ignored  or  forgotten,  but 
by  an  inordinate  desire  for  gain.  Let  any  one 
visit  the  cheap  houses  of  the  well-to-do  colonies, 
and  he  will  see  how  the  ingeniousness  of  the  build- 
ers, spurred  by  the  avarice  of  owners,  has  per- 
formed miracles  of  architectural  distribution, 
taking  advantage  of  the  last  cubic  centimeter  of 
space  occupied  by  the  buildings.  If  we  visit 
some  of  the  tenements  of  the  lower  classes,  in  the 
narrow  yards  of  which  have  been  erected  new  and 
astonishing  shanties,  we  shall  recognize  the  inevi- 
table and  criminal  coexistence  of  two  facts :  a  con- 
siderable increase  of  rents  for  the  owners,  and  a 
serious  increase  of  unhealthfulness  for  the  tenants. 

Finally,  the  relation  between  the  width  of  the 
streets  and  the  height  of  the  buildings,  which  will 
ensure  for  the  latter  the  benefit  of  solar  irradiations 


Dwellings  89 

to  the  extent  of  their  height,  is  obtained  theoreti- 
cally according  to  Vogt's  formula': 

|T  =  sen.  (30°+ (J)  cot.  oc, 

in  which : 

L=  the  street's  width; 

H  =  the  height  of  the  buildings, 

oc  =an  angle  formed  by  the  street's  direction  with 

the  meridian,  and 

(J  =  latitude  or  angle  of  incidentalism  of  the  solar 

rays. 

Calculating  the  relation  jr  for  the  values  6  of 

8°  and  98° — oriental  declines  approximately  of 
the  streets  N.  S.  and  E.  W.  of  the  City  of  Mexico 
respectively — and  taking  for  cc  the  value  of  19°  26', 
we  get:  for  the  first,  that  is  for  the  N.  S.,  we  would 
require  a  width  of  street  equal  to  once  and  three 
quarters  the  maximum  height  of  the  buildings;  and 
for  the  second,  that  is  for  the  streets  running  E,  W., 
there  would  he  needed  a  width  nearly  twice  and  a 
quarter  the  maximum  height  of  the  dwellings. 

Article  62  of  our  Sanitary  Code  prescribes  that: 
*'The  height  of  the  dwellings  shall  be  proportioned 
to  the  width  of  the  streets,  so  that  light  may  enter 
into  all  the  floors,  in  accordance  with  the  provi- 
sions of  a  special  regulation."  There  has  been  no 
regulation  subsequent  to  this  article  other  than 
the  following  ruling  passed  at  the  meeting  of  May 

*  Emile  Tr61at,  La  Saluhrite,  p.  122. 


90  Dwellings 

29,  1903:  ''Subject  to  what  may  hereafter  be 
enacted  in  the  Regulations  provided  for  in  the 
Sanitary  Code  regarding  the  height  of  buildings, 
it  is  forthwith  forbidden  to  erect  constructions 
in  Mexico  City,  on  private  property,  of  a  height 
exceeding  22  meters,  to  be  measured  from  the 
level  of  the  sidewalk  to  the  top  cornice,  and  this 
maximum  height  must  correspond  to  streets  of 
more  than  18  meters  in  width;  in  streets  of  lesser 
width  it  will  be  necessary  to  abide  by  the  de- 
cision of  the  Director  of  Public  Works."  In  keep- 
ing with  the  rule  theoretically  obtained  from  Vogt's 
formula,  this  height  of  22  meters  for  the  buildings 
could  only  be  allowed  in  N.-S.  streets  of  38.50 
meters,  and  E.-W.  of  49.50  meters,  which  do  not 
exist  in  Mexico  City. 

But  if  the  legal  precept  is  far  removed  from  the 
theoretic,  practice  is  still  more  distant  from  the 
former.  The  greater  part  of  the  large  buildings 
recently  constracted — like  that  of  **La  Mexicana," 
25.50  meters  in  height,  and  situated  on  the  comer 
of  Francisco  I.  Madero  Avenue,  13.09  meters,  and 
Jose  Maria  Pino  Suarez  Street,  13.94  meters,  in 
width;  or  house  No.  85  Flamencos  Street,  22.60 
meters  in  height,  in  a  street  only  12.93  nieters, 
etc.,  etc.,  are  irrefutable  proofs  of  the  ease  and  fre- 
quency with  which  the  rulings  of  authority  are 
disregarded  in  Mexico. 


CHAPTER  IX 

HOUSES  OF  THE   FUTURE 

WE  can  affirm  that  the  tenements  and  lodg- 
ing houses  of  Mexico,  homes  of  the  great 
majority  of  the  metropolitan  population,  are 
indeed  sinks  of  physical  and  moral  infection.  If 
the  preceding  pages,  which  show  innumerable  in- 
fractions of  the  most  elementary  laws  of  hygiene, 
were  followed  with  a  recital  of  the  scandalous 
scenes  of  popular  life,  pictured  daily  by  the  news- 
papers as  taking  place  in  such  dwellings,  we  should 
have  to  own  that  these  houses  are,  besides,  the 
theater  of  all  vices  and  all  crimes. 

In  face  of  the  powerful  atavic  influence,  and 
the  still  stronger  influence  of  the  unhealthful  and 
immoral  ambient  of  the  tenements,  to  which  the 
children  of  the  lower  classes  are  at  all  times  and 
from  earliest  childhood  exposed,  we  may  well  ask: 
what  can  be  the  influence  of  a  school,  as  a  rule, 
poorly  endowed  with  technical  and  material 
facilities,  with  a  curriculum  of  doubtful  efficiency, 
provided  with  incompetent  teachers,  to  which 
the  children  are  compulsorily  sent  for  a  few  hours 
daily,  during  the  so-called  school  years?     Peda- 

91 


92  Houses  of  the  Future 

gogy  must  inevitably  fail  in  its  noble  purpose  of 
rescuing  our  people  from  perdition  and  utter 
degeneracy,  if  it  does  not  strive  to  modify  the 
first  environment  of  the  child,  extending  its  bene- 
ficial action  to  the  house  or  home.  The  problem 
concerned  with  the  salubrity  of  the  lodging  and 
tenement  is  not  therefore  a  mere  question  of 
Sanitary  Engineering,  but  likewise  includes  all 
questions  connected  with  the  health  of  the  dwell- 
ers therein,  both  of  soul  and  of  body. 

Having  thus  stated  the  dwelling  problem  for 
the  poor  in  Mexico,  we  must  also  consider  it 
in  order  to  ensure  its  technical  solution,  from  the 
financial  point  of  view.  The  first  obstacle  to  its 
solution  is  the  money  lust  of  owners.  We  must 
therefore  depend,  for  the  initial  effort,  upon  phil- 
anthropists or  high-minded  capitalists.  Follow- 
ing them  economic  competence  will  imdertake 
to  realize  the  miracle. 

Imbued  with  this  idea,  about  two  years  ago  I 
formed  the  plan  for  a  tenement  house,  striving 
to  harmonize  the  architectural  arrangement  with 
the  three  necessary  conditions — sanitary,  peda- 
gogic, and  financial — in  order  that  I  might  propose 
it  to  the  administrator  of  a  large  estate  devoted 
to  works  of  philanthropic  intent.  I  cannot  here 
insert  the  project,  having  retained  no  copy  thereof, 
and  shall  limit  myself  to  transcribing  a  sort  of 
letter-monograph  connected  with  this  project. 
Upon  publishing  it  here  I  have  stripped  it  of  the 
personal  character  which  it  possessed,  addressing 


Houses  of  the  Future  93 

it  as  an  open  letter  to  all  philanthropic  institutions 
■ — which  in  Mexico  handle  many  millions  of  dollars 
— and  to  every  owner  who  may  care  to  forget  his 
selfish  past  and  in  the  future  fulfill  his  duties  to 
the  race. 
The  letter  follows: 

''My  dear  Sir: 

''After  our  last  conversation,  during  which  I 
took  the  liberty  of  presenting  to  you  some  general 
ideas  upon  what  were  in  my  opinion  the  best 
methods  of  utilizing  the  funds  bequeathed  for 
works  of  philanthropy,   by  the  benefactor  Mr. 

,  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  run  across,  while 

reading  a  book  of  the  famous  Italian  educator, 
Maria  Montessori,  the  description  of  the  Roman 
Institute  of  the  Beni  Stahili  which  confirmed 
almost  literally  the  ideas  discussed  in  our  conver- 
sation. So  fortunate  a  coincidence  gives  my 
ideas  the  theoretic  and  practical  sanction  of  an 
acknowledged  authority  in  the  matter,  whose  con- 
clusions are  based  upon  the  experience  of  many 
years. 

"As  the  need  among  us  is  even  more  crying  than 
at  Rome,  in  view  of  the  great  moral  and  material 
backwardness  of  the  awful  Colonia  de  la  Bolsa 
in  Mexico  City,  much  worse  than  the  San  Lo- 
renzo quarter  in  the  Italian  capital,  I  shall  limit 
myself  in  the  course  of  this  letter  to  the  transla- 
tion of  paragraphs  relative  to  the  book  mentioned, 
and  shall  urge  only  that  if  this  institution  has  in 


94  Houses  of  the  Future 

Rome  fulfilled  a  great  mission,  then  its  establish- 
ment in  our  midst  becomes  most  imperative, 

**Signorina  Montessori  goes  on  to  say: 

*'  'The  great  idea  of  Talamo  was  to  pick  up  all 
the  children  from  three  to  seven  years  old,  living  in 
the  tenements  of  a  great  bmlding,  and  to  group 
them  in  a  hall,  under  the  care  or  vigilance  of  a 
female  teacher  living  in  the  same  building. 

**  *Thus  each  one  of  these  huge  tenements  had 
its  private  school.  The  Beni  Stahili  Institute 
found  itself  in  possession  of  four  himdred  old 
Roman  palaces:  the  work  possessed  marvelous 
possibilities  of  development.  The  first  school 
was  to  be  founded  in  1907,  in  a  great  tenement 
building  of  the  San  Lorenzo  quarter,  containing 
nearly  one  thousand  persons.  In  this  very  quar- 
ter the  Institute  already  owned  fifty-eight  buildings 
and  according  to  Talamo  could  soon  coimt  sixteen 
schools  in  these  buildings. 

^*'This  particular  school  was  named  by  Signora 
Olga  Lodi,  a  common  friend  of  Talamo  and  mine, 
with  the  charming  appellation  of  Casa  dei  Bambini 
(Babies'  Home) .  The  first  school  was  inaugurated 
under  this  name,  on  the  6th  day  of  January,  1907, 
in  the  Via  dei  Marsi  58,  and  entrusted  at  my  re- 
commendation and  on  my  responsibility  to  Signo- 
rina  Candita  Nuccitelli.  I  did  not  overlook  the 
social  and  pedagogic  importance  of  such  an  institu- 
tion. I  understood  at  once  all  its  magnitude, 
and  I  may  then  have  seemed  oversanguine  in  my 


Houses  of  the  Future  95 

great  expectations  of  a  triumphant  future.     Now, 
my  hopes  are  being  fulfilled. 

"  'On  the  7th  of  April,  1907,  there  was  opened 
another  Casa  del  Bambini  in  this  same  quarter 
of  San  Lorenzo.  On  the  i8th  of  October,  1908, 
we  established  the  Humanitario  in  the  working 
district  of  Milan,  while  the  Casa  di  Lavoro  of  the 
same  society  undertook  to  manufacture  the  teach- 
ing material.  On  the  4th  of  the  following  Novem- 
ber there  was  opened  at  Rome  another  Casa  dei 
Bambini,  no  longer  in  the  poorest  districts,  but  in 
a  great  apartment  house  of  the  middle  class  in 
Tamagosta  Street,  and  in  January,  1909,  while  I 
am  writing  these  pages,  in  Italian,  Switzerland 
has  begun  to  transform  its  asylums  for  children, 
organized  formerly  according  to  the  Froebel 
method,  into  Casa  dei  Bambini.  The  Casa  dei 
Bambini  has  a  double  importance,  a  social  impor- 
tance, due  to  its  form  of  "house  school,*'  and  a 
pedagogic  importance  because  of  the  methods  of 
education  inaugurated  by  me. 

"  *As  a  direct  civilizing  influence  upon  the  people 
the  Casa  dei  Bambini  would  deserve  a  special 
volume.  It  solves,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  more  than 
one  social  and  pedagogic  problem,  the  solution  of 
which  seemed  Utopian,  and  has  been  an  agent  in 
the  modern  transformation  of  the  home. 

"*The  San  Lorenzo  quarter  is  famous;  all  the 
newspapers  of  the  capital  speak  of  it  daily;  it  is 
par  excellence  the  poor  man^s  quarter;  the  home  of 


96  Houses  of  the  Future 

the  honest  and  ill-paid  workman,  often  of  those 
unemployed  as  the  result  of  ill-luck  or  laziness, 
of  the  delinquent  or  those  who  have  transgressed 
because  of  lack  of  opportunity  or  preparedness. 

"  'The  San  Lorenzo  quarter  dates  from  1884  ^^ 
1888,  when  the  building  boom  reached  a  kind  of 
paroxysm  along  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  The 
speculators  were  certainly  not  guided  by  hygienic 
or  social  preoccupations.  Their  purpose  was  to 
cover  with  walls  the  greatest  possible  area  of 
land,  so  as  to  receive  coveted  subsidies  from 
banks  and  from  the  State.  As  these  buildings 
were  never  intended  to  be  used  by  those  who  built 
them,  their  future  was  boimd  to  be  disastrous. 

'"After  the  crisis,  these  houses  remained  unin- 
habited for  a  long  time.  Then,  little  by  little, 
they  began  to  fill  up  with  tenants,  and  as  the  own- 
ers of  the  properties  were  loath  to  add  new  capital 
to  what  had  already  been  lost,  these  buildings, 
which  were  deplorably  anti-hygienic  and  most 
hastily  put  together,  did  not  undergo  the  slightest 
repair,  housing  in  this  condition  as  many  families 
as  it  was  possible  to  huddle  into  them.  The 
apartments  or  tenements  not  having  been  built 
for  the  lower  classes,  were  too  large;  it  became 
necessary  to  sub-rent  in  order  to  live.  The  tenant 
who  has  an  apartment  of  six  rooms  for  a  monthly 
rent  of  eighty  liras,  sublets  a  room  for  ten  liras 
per  month  to  those  that  can  pay,  or  a  corner  of  a 
room,  perhaps  the  dining-room,  to  the  less  for- 
tunate.    In  this  way,  thanks  to  the  subletting, 


Houses  of  the  Future  97 

the  tenant  can  make  forty  liras  per  month,  and 
get  his  rent  free.  This  is  usury;  the  tenant 
thrives  on  his  neighbor's  wretchedness.  To  this 
evil  we  must  add  those  which  are  caused  by  ag- 
glomeration, promiscuity,  immorality,  and  crime. 
The  newspapers  make  daily  word  pictures  of  such 
dens,  where  a  numerous  family  lives  in  the  same 
room,  boys  and  girls  together,  while  some  woman 
not  belonging  to  the  family,  shamelessly  and  in 
presence  of  these  children,  receives  some  lover  or 
lovers  in  a  corner  of  the  same  room.  Quarrels 
of  sexual  jealousy  break  out,  and  opprobrious 
epithets  are  bandied  from  bed  to  bed,  leading  to 
blows,  bloodshed,  and  the  intervention  of  the 
police. 

***  If  one  penetrates  into  any  of  these  dwellings, 
a  feeling  of  repulsion  and  hopelessness  takes  pos- 
session of  him.  The  wretchedness  which  one 
sees  is  not  that  of  one's  imagination,  or  as  it  is 
seen  in  the  theater.  It  is  a  black  abyss.  What  is 
most  depressing  is  the  utter  darkness.  Finally, 
when  the  sight  can  discern  something  one  sees 
a  cot  containing  a  sick  person.  If  one  comes  to 
minister  to  the  needy,  in  behalf  of  some  philan- 
thropic society,  and  it  is  necessary  that  some 
receipt  be  signed,  a  candle  must  first  be  lighted. 
Often  we  speak  of  the  great  social  questions  while 
never  having  observed  the  evils  through  personal 
investigation.  We  talk  of  having  the  pupils  write 
and  prepare  some  of  their  tasks  at  home,  utterly 
oblivious  of  the  fact  that  in  that  case  they  would 


98  Houses  of  the  Future 

have  to  write  on  the  floor.  Without  really  know- 
ing their  needs,  we  wish  to  establish  circulating 
libraries,  to  distribute  among  the  poorest,  educa- 
tional and  hygienic  pamphlets  of  propaganda. 
The  greater  part  of  them  have  no  light  whereby 
to  read.  For  the  proletariat  there  is  one  awful 
gripping  need,  coming  before  all  else:  the  problem 
of  existence.  The  children  born  in  such  circum- 
stances do  not  "come  to  light"  but  to  pitch  dark- 
ness. They  are  brought  up  there,  breathing, 
mentally  and  physically,  the  poisons  inherent  to 
human  herding.  They  are  raised  in  filth  and 
squalor,  because  the  water  available  for  an  apart- 
ment suitable  for  three  or  four  persons,  wherein 
ten  or  more  have  been  crowded,  scarcely  suffices 
to  allay  the  tenants'  thirst. 

*'*  Nothing  is  more  sacred  than  the  English 
home;  it  is  the  enclosed  temple  of  intimacy;  in  it 
all  the  most  refined  and  elevating  sentiments 
uplift  souls  who  there  find  solace  and  refreshing 
peace.  If  we  reflect  upon  the  chasm  existing 
between  such  homes,  and  so  many  others,  it  seems 
cruel  to  demand  of  all  the  same  love  for  home. 
How  many  wretches  do  not  know  even  the  meaning 
of  the  word  *'home."  What  they  have  seen  is 
the  enclosure  formed  by  four  walls  reeking  with 
filth,  where  the  highest  intimacy  must  perforce 
be  absent,  where  everything  is  performed  in  the 
presence  of  everybody  else;  a  place  destitute  of 
air,  light,  and  water.  Therefore  we  see  why  this 
term  "home"  is  but  an  abstract  entity.     Before 


Houses  of  the  Future  99 

we  can  strengthen  family  ties,  the  greatest  basis 
of  human  society,  we  must  first  create  the  home. 

"*  For  those  who  inhabit  such  squalid  surround- 
ings, the  street  becomes  the  parlor,  and  into  it 
swarm  the  children.  And  how  often  is  the  street 
the  theater  of  crimes,  fights,  brawls,  and  all  manner 
of  vile  exhibitions!  The  newspapers  tell  us  of 
women  pursued  by  drunken  husbands  armed  with 
knives ;  of  young  girls  trembling  from  fear,  chased 
by  young  ruffians,  who  throw  stones  at  them,  or 
worse.  There  are  deeds  even  more  dastardly 
committed,  over  which  decency  compels  that  a 
veil  be  cast.  We  know  of  miserable  women, 
stupefied  by  drink,  assaulted  by  hoodlums,  who 
after  throwing  them  prone  into  the  gutter,  leave 
them  to  be  found  in  a  shocking  state  of  nudity 
by  a  band  of  street  "arabs,*'  who  pull  them  about, 
and  mock  them  with  much  show  of  ribaldry  and 
vileness. 

** 'Spectacles  so  disgusting  that  men  in  a  savage 
state  were  ignorant  of  them  happen  daily  at  the 
doors  of  the  cosmopolitan  city,  the  mother  of 
civilization,  the  queen  of  fine  arts,  the  Eternal 
City!  This  is  possible,  because  of  a  new  fact, 
unknown  in  former  ages:  the  segregation  and 
removal  of  the  poor  classes. 

*'  'During  the  Middle  Ages  the  lepers  were  iso- 
lated ;  the  Jews  locked  up  by  the  Catholics.  How- 
ever poverty  was  not  considered  as  a  danger,  and 
an  infamy  which  it  became  necessary  to  consider 
from  afar.     The  poor  lived  near  the  rich.     This 


100  Houses  of  the  Future 

contrast,  with  the  palace  robbing  the  light  of  the 
hut,  between  the  bloody  drama  taking  place  in 
the  garret,  while  fashionable  dancing  graces  the 
brilliant  hall,  has  inspired  the  genius  of  many  a 
great  writer,  among  others  Victor  Hugo.  Popular 
romance,  to  point  a  moral  and  adorn  a  tale,  was 
pleased  to  show  the  princess  sending  substantial 
help  to  the  neighboring  hut,  or  depicting  the  daugh- 
ters of  the  rich  giving  of  their  surplus  to  the  wretch 
in  the  garret.  Now  the  poor  can  hope  for  practi- 
cally nothing  from  the  rich.  Even  the  few  crumbs 
of  other^days  have  been  taken  from  them;  they 
have  been  herded  as  far  away  from  us  as  possible, 
outside  the  city  walls;  outcasts  left  to  grovel  in 
despair  among  the  frightful  schools  of  brutality 
and  sin.  Thus  have  been  formed  sinks  of  iniquity, 
a  cankerous  growth  threatening  the  city,  which 
has  attempted  to  clean  its  interior  streets  of  all 
that  was  ugly,  but  which  has  fostered  venomous 
growths  to  rankle  and  fester  it,  in  spite  of  the 
blindly  selfish  efforts  of  an  aristocracy  enamored 
of  beauty  and  the  ideal.  When  I  journeyed  for 
the  first  time  in  these  new  quarters,  I  felt  as  if 
I  were  in  a  city  which  had  undergone  some  ter- 
rible catastrophe.  They  look  like  the  remnant 
of  a  city,  with  streets  bordered  by  immense  edi- 
fices, isolated,  in  spite  of  their  nearness  to  the 
capital.  It  seemed  to  me  as  though  some  great 
bereavement  afflicted  these  people  who  went 
about  sullen,  downcast,  and  silent.  The  silence 
might  have  meant  the  interruption  of  some  col- 


Houses  of  the  Future  loi 

lective  life.  Not  a  carriage  went  by,  no  voice  was 
heard,  not  even  the  jarring  tones  of  some  discord- 
ant barrel  organ  trying  to  worm  a  few  cents  from 
the  dejected  herds.  These  things,  forbidden 
within  Rome,  as  being  signs  of  shiftlessness,  and 
stunted  civilization,  did  not  even  wander  here  to 
solace  the  reigning  overwhelming  misery. 

"  'Seeing  the  streets  so  unevenly  paved  with 
huge  stones  jutting  out  irregularly,  one  might 
have  thought  that  some  flood  had  washed  away 
the  earth.  Upon  seeing  the  houses  dismantled 
with  uneven  walls,  one  might  rather  conjecture 
that  some  earthquake  had  ravaged  the  land. 

*'  'When  we  note  that  there  is  not  a  single  shop 
in  these  quarters,  not  one  of  those  minute  empo- 
riums where  we  can  find  for  a  low  price  articles 
of  first  necessity,  but  only  unclean  cafes  and 
saloons,  opening  upon  the  street  their  reeking 
maws,  then  we  realize  that  the  only  compelling 
disaster  is  mental,  and  that  it  is  poverty  and  vice. 

"  'Such  an  awful  state  of  things,  daily  feeding 
the  catalogue  of  recorded  crime,  has  excited  the 
finer  feelings  of  noble  souls,  since  fortunately  it  is 
the  redeeming  characteristic  of  human  nature, 
that  sometime,  somewhere,  it  seeks  to  remedy 
existing  evil.  And  thus  we  have  seen  that  asy- 
lums of  all  kinds  have  been  established,  free  din- 
ing-rooms, and  hospitals  by  which  commissions 
of  public  health  have  striven  to  combat  the 
unhygienic  condition  of  the  dens. 

"  'This   of   course  is  only   a   slight  palliating 


102  Houses  of  the  Future 

beneficence.  The  magnitude  of  the  evil  would 
require  some  redeeming  work  on  the  part  of  the 
community.  Only  some  great  social  work,  which 
through  the  good  done  to  others  might  be  strength- 
ened and  enriched  by  the  very  well-being  which  it 
generates,  could,  taking  up  its  quarters  in  this 
district,  realize  a  truly  redeeming  action. 

''  'Such  is  the  great  work  of  the  Roman  Institute 
of  Beni  Stahili,  inspired  by  the  most  modern  social 
principles,  directed  by  Engineer  Eduardo  Talamo, 
and  which  owing  to  the  wealth  at  its  disposal 
has  no  equal  in  Italy,  nor  in  foreign  parts.  It  is 
three  years  since  this  Institute  was  founded  at 
Rome;  its  program  was  to  acquire  real  estate  in 
the  city,  improve  it,  and  paternally  administer 
the  buildings. 

'*  'The  first  acquisitions  comprised  a  large  part 
of  the  San  Lorenzo  quarter,  where  the  Institute 
possesses  at  present  fifty-eight  houses,  occupying 
an  area  of  nearly  30,000  square  meters,  compris- 
ing, besides,  the  ground  for  1600  dwellings,  capable 
of  housing  a  large  number  of  families.  Thus  the 
reforms  attempted  through  the  Beni  Stahili  can 
be  carried  on  in  a  much  larger  way. 

**  'The  Institute  understanding  that  it  could  not 
keep  up  these  old  houses,  badly  built,  and  anti- 
hygienic,  decided  to  transform  them  gradually. 
The  architect  was  to  give  a  new  value  to  the  real 
estate,  and  its  hygienic  and  moral  transformation, 
improving  the  conditions  of  existence  of  the  occu- 
pants, would  surely  ensure  the  increase  in  the 


Houses  of  the  Future  103 

number  of  tenants.  The  Institute  established  a 
system  which  permitted  it  to  evacuate,  gradually, 
such  houses  as  were  to  be  repaired,  so  as  not  to 
turn  into  the  streets  at  one  and  the  same  time  the 
whole  population  of  the  quarter.  The  redeeming 
work  could  hardly  proceed  more  swiftly.  In  this 
way,  the  Institute  has,  up  to  the  present,  been 
able  to  overhaul  only  three  of  the  huge  buildings, 
in  accordance  with  the  basis  of  its  program,  which 
is  as  follows: 

"'  (a)  To  demolish  in  the  building  all  invading 
appurtenances  which  take  up  room  in  the  yards, 
and  which  render  the  dwellings  unhealthfiil  by 
robbing  them  of  air  and  light.  The  skylights 
and  all  narrow  light  apertures  were  abolished; 
in  their  stead  have  been  created  long  and  roomy 
courtyards,  to  which  all  the  rooms  have  access. 

"'(Z>)  To  build  new  stairs,  and  distribute  the 
dwellings  in  a  better  fashion,  restricting  them 
to  one,  two,  or  three  rooms  at  most,  with 
kitchen. 

' '  *  The  importance  of  such  transformations  is  of 
course  immense,  not  only  for  the  gain  of  the  own- 
ers, but  for  the  material  and  moral  well-being  of 
the  tenants.  To  increase  the  number  of  stairs 
means  to  facilitate  circulation,  and  reduce  the 
damage  to  property  caused  by  the  constant  pas- 
sage of  masses  of  human  beings,  with  no  respect  or 
care  for  property  belonging  to  others,  and  little 
addicted  to  order  and  cleanliness.  It  also  tends 
to  reduce  the  personal  contact  among  the  tenants, 


104  Houses  of  the  Future 

especially  during  the  night,  and  this  has  a  very 
great  moral  value. 

'* '  Subdivision,  or  the  transformation  of  the  large 
apartments  into  small  ones,  completes  the  work, 
isolating  each  family,  and  suppressing  sublettings 
and  their  host  of  untoward  consequences.  It 
also  eliminates  usury  and  speculation,  with  which 
the  old  system  was  so  fraught,  and  at  the  same 
time  it  increases  the  proprietor's  profit.  When 
an  owner  rented  in  the  old  days  an  apartment  of 
six  rooms  for  eighty  liras  per  month,  he  could 
greatly  increase  his  income  if  this  amount  of 
space  were  subdivided  into  three  small  apartments, 
clean  and  attractive,  each  one  comprising  a  kitchen 
and  a  bedroom. 

'*  *  Another  great  moral  advantage  secured  from 
such  reforms  is  the  awakening,  in  the  hearts  of 
all  these  poor  outcasts,  the  sweet  sentiment  for  a 
sheltered  home,  removed  from  the  violation  of 
outsiders. 

"  'But  the  purpose  of  the  Institute  is  not  only  to 
obtain  a  home  for  each  family;  it  wishes  besides 
that  such  a  home  be  kept  clean.  Naturally  to 
attain  such  a  result  it  is  all-important  to  secure 
the  cooperation  of  the  tenant.  The  most  careful 
tenant  receives  a  prize.  By  this  means  is  assured 
the  competition  of  all  the  tenants  of  the  building 
to  secure  the  greatest  cleanhness,  comfort,  and 
the  best  hygiene.  Previous  to  the  present  time 
such  a  system  had  never  been  put  in  operation. 
Nevertheless,  we  see  it  in  Rome  yielding  most 


Houses  of  the  Future  105 

astounding  results.  The  building  where  the 
second  Casa  dei  Bambini  was  inaugurated,  after 
having  been  for  two  years  under  the  exclusive 
protection  of  the  tenants,  could  as  far  as  conserva- 
tion be  concerned,  serve  as  example  for  more  than 
one  family  of  the  middle  class. 

"'Thus,  besides  the  sentiment  for  home,  the 
people  are  unconsciously  taught  the  love  of  clean- 
liness, which  forms  part  of  the  esthetic  comprehen- 
sion. This  latter  is  increased  by  means  of  natural 
decorations  costing  little,  such  as  plants  and 
flowers  for  the  windows,  and  trees  for  the  yards. 
Thence  springs  a  new  source  of  pride  for  the 
tenants;  the  creation  of  the  esthetic  instinct;  not 
only  do  they  have  a  home,  but  they  know  how  to 
live  therein,  and  to  make  it  respectable. 

"  'Cleanliness  of  the  home  will  of  course  produce 
cleanliness  of  the  person.  How  could  a  dirty  piece 
of  furniture  be  tolerated  in  an  otherwise  clean  house  ? 
Where  all  is  a  feast  for  the  eyes,  there  springs  up  the 
wish  for  scrupulous  personal  cleanliness. 

"'The  establishment  of  baths  has  been  a  very 
great  reform.  Cleanliness  is  next  to  godliness. 
Each  building  possesses  a  special  department, 
with  bath,  and  hot  and  cold  showers,  where  all 
tenants  may  bathe  in  turn.  Who  will  deny  the 
great  advantage  of  the  warm  bath  at  home,  and 
its  superiority  over  public  baths,  nearly  always 
in  a  doubtful  hygienic  condition?  Thus  the  old 
dens  of  squalor  are  opened,  materially  and  morally, 
to  the  benefits  of  civilization  and  hygiene. 


io6  ^Houses  of  the  Future 

*'  'However,  in  the  realization  of  its  noble  task, 
the  Institute  found  a  serious  obstacle  in  the  chil- 
dren too  small  to  go  to  school,  and  always  little 
looked  after  by  their  fathers  and  mothers.  They 
became  in  consequence  rather  destructive  to 
property  as  a  result  of  their  childish  and  irrespon- 
sible activity,  an  activity  provided  by  nature  to 
ensure  their  development.  Then  a  new  reform 
arose,  the  most  brilliant,  the  most  serious,  the 
most  pregnant  with  result:  The  creation  of  the 
Casa  dei  Bambini. 

''  'Mothers  can  send  there  all  children  under  usual 
school  age.  Watched  and  well  taught,  these  little 
ones  will  remain  in  the  Casa  dei  Bambini,  saving 
the  mother  the  work  of  looking  after  them.  Still 
this  work  cannot  be  realized  without  the  coopera- 
tion of  the  parents.  The  Regulations  on  the  wall 
show  the  conditions  necessary  for  entrance  into 
the  Casa  dei  Bambini: 

"  ^Mothers  must  send  their  children  here  in  a  con- 
dition of  cleanliness,  and  cooperate  by  all  means  in 
their  power  in  the  work  of  redemption  by  the  Lady 
Director. 

"  'In  this  there  is  a  double  duty:  the  physical 
and  moral  care  of  the  child.  If,  through  his  acts 
or  words,  a  child  endangered  or  harmed  the  work 
"of  the  school,  through  the  evil  influence  exercised 
upon  him  by  his  family,  he  would  be  expelled  and 
would  fall  back  to  the  care  of  the  parents.  The 
oaths,  the  disputes,  and  the  brutal  acts  of  the  fathers 
would  force  these  to  feel  at  once  the  weight  of  all 


Houses  of  the  Future  107 

these  small  lives,  so  tenderly  beloved,  which  wotdd 
be  deprived  of  all  the  moral  care  of  which  they 
stood  in  such  dire  necessity.  It  is  necessary, 
therefore,  to  learn  to  deserve  the  boon  of  having  a 
school  at  home. 

"  'The  mothers  must  visit  the  Lady  Director 
once  a  week  to  report  concerning  their  children. 
These  talks  can  have  a  double  advantage,  because 
the  teacher,  counseled  by  the  doctor  always  in 
attendance  at  the  school,  is  enabled  to  give  the 
mothers,  not  only  advice  of  educational  value, 
but  even  hygienic  and  practical  suggestions. 

"'The  management  is  always  at  the  disposal 
of  the  parents.  The  teacher,  who,  according  to 
the  Regulations,  is  compelled  to  live  in  the  same 
building  as  the  pupils,  being  a  person  of  higher 
education  and  culture,  is  necessarily  capable  of 
exerting  a  deep  influence  over  all  the  tenants  of 
the  building.  A  true  missionary  among  all  these 
people  in  a  semi-savage  stage,  the  teacher,  if 
possessed  of  tact  and  good  judgment,  will  reap 
most  unexpected  fruits  from  this  admirable  social 
duty. 

"  'Philanthropists  and  idealists  had  striven 
before  to  live  among  the  poor  with  the  idea  of 
helping  to  better  them,  but  the  trial  had  ever 
failed.  To  reach  such  ends  in  a  practical  manner 
it  is  necessary  to  make  the  habitation  of  the  poor 
cleaner,  more  hygienic,  better  ventilated.  As 
at  Rome,  such  ends  can  be  reached  only  through 
moral  competition,  and  the  awarding  of  prizes. 


io8  Houses  of  the  Future 

There  is  no  other  way  of  making  the  poor  accept 
the  yoke  of  civiHzation. 

"  '  The  Casa  del  Bambini  is  not  an  asylum.  //  is 
a  school  whose  methods  are  inspired  hy  the  rational 
principles  of  scientific  pedagogy.  To  the  school, 
properly  so  called,  it  is  intended,  so  far  as  possible, 
to  add  baths  and  toilets,  and  a  stretch  of  land  which 
the  children  may  cultivate.  What  it  is  important 
to  show,  is  the  pedagogic  progress  realized  by  the 
Casa  dei  Bambini.  No  educator  is  blind  to  the 
fact  that  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  har- 
monize the  school's  influence  with  that  of  the 
home.  It  is  not  possible  to  always  depend  upon 
the  latter.  Here  for  the  first  time  we  see  our 
ideal  realized,  because  of  the  school  in  the  home, 
which  becomes  little  by  little  the  collective  prop- 
erty of  the  parents.  The  sentiment  of  collec- 
tive property  is  always  sweet  to  the  heart. 

"  'Mothers  who  can  constantly  observe  what  is 
going  on  in  the  Casa  dei  Bambini  soon  end  by 
fairly  worshiping  the  school  and  the  Directress. 
How  often  does  the  latter  find  at  her  window 
sweets  and  flowers  as  tokens  of  heartfelt  gratitude 
from  fond  mothers!  And  when  after  three  years 
in  such  a  school,  the  children  then  have  to  enter 
the  establishments  of  primary  education,  their 
mothers,  _^hitherto  accustomed  to  exercising  a 
physical  and  moral  inspection,  must  perforce 
continue  such  overseeing  which  has  become  second 
nature  to  them. 

"/Another  progress  realized  by  the   Casa  dei 


Houses  of  the  Future  109 

Bambini  is  along  the  lines  of  scientific  pedagogy. 
Since  man  is  not  only  a  biological  product,  but 
also  a  social  being  whose  first  ambient  is  the  family, 
scientific  pedagogy  will  strive  in  vain  to  improve 
coming  generations  if  it  does  not  find  a  way  to 
act  upon  the  very  medium  wherein  children  are 
growing.  All  application  of  scientific  hygiene 
would  prove  worthless  if  the  home  were  to  remain 
sealed  to  progress.  To  open  up  to  moral  and 
material  light,  the  old  building,  badly  built  and 
full  of  blemishes  is  in  my  philosophy  the  true 
starting  point  of  scientific  pedagogy. 

"'Moreover  the  home  thus  transformed  has 
another  quality:  it  has  been  socialized,  that  is 
to  say,  all  the  mothers  can  enjoy  equal  advantages 
and  feel  their  children  upon  a  footing  of  equality. 

*'  'Until  now,  only  great  ladies  had  been  able  to 
entrust  their  children  to  the  care  of  a  governess 
or  children's  maid.  To-day  the  women  of  the 
people  are  in  an  analogous  situation;  as  in  the  most 
princely  dwellings  the  home  doctor  looks  after 
all  these  little  ones  and  observes  their  develop- 
ment. The  ladies  of  the  English  aristocracy  and 
gentry  possess  a  '* mother's  book"  wherein  they 
jot  down  from  time  to  time  the  principal  measure- 
ments of  the  child;  in  Rome,  the  workmen  have 
the  *' biographic  certificate"  of  their  children, 
compiled  by  the  teacher  and  the  doctor. 

**  'We  already  well  know  the  advantages  secured 
from  the  socialization  of  certain  objects:  the 
carriage  transformed  into  tramway,  the  candle 


no  Houses  of  the  Future 

into  a  lamp,  or  gas  jet.     Never  had  persons  been 
socialized:  the  governess  and  the  children's  maid. 

*  *  *  The  Case  del  Bambini  have  given  this  example. 
It  fills  up  a  long  felt  want.  It  cannot  be  asserted 
that  it  is  the  wish  for  comfort  and  ease  which 
induces  mothers  to  gi^e  up  caring  for  and  washing 
their  httle  ones.  Economic  and  social  evolu- 
tion obliges  the  working-woman  to  leave  her  home 
in  order  to  earn  the  bread  necessary  for  her  little 
ones,  and  to  waive  the  privilege  of  fulfilling  duties 
which  would  be  sweet.  It  is  a  great  solace  for 
her  to  know  that  her  children  are  well  looked  after. 
This  work  is  not  restricted  to  the  children  of  the 
working  classes:  it  is  extended  also  to  the  middle 
class,  where  the  mothers  are  also  ^* workers  in 
thought."  The  women  teachers  of  every  kind, 
professors,  etc.,  who  besides  their  official  courses 
give  private  lessons,  are  frequently  compelled  to 
leave  their  children  in  the  hands  of  a  rough, 
benighted,  utterly  incompetent  servant.  Hence 
the  fact  that  after  the  inauguration  of  the  first 
Casa  dei  Bambini,  the  Beni  Stabili  were  invited 
repeatedly  to  organize  similar  schools  in  other 
parts  of  the  city. 

**  'Upon  seeing  socialized  in  this  manner  a  mater- 
nal function,  some  mayhap  will  ask:  what  is  to 
become  of  the  home  if  the  mistress  of  the  house 
no  longer  gives  it  the  same  care  as  formerly  ?  But 
the  home  is  also  transformed  accepting  these  new 
functions. 

*  * '  Later,  other  improvements  will  also  be  made. 


Houses  of  the  Future  iii 

Among  these  we  must  propose  the  "dispensary 
in  the  home,"  permitting  the  various  members  of 
the  family  to  go  about  their  business,  while  their 
patient  is  well  looked  after  in  the  home.  Hygiene 
and  prophylaxis  will  gain  in  any  event,  and  there 
will  no  longer  be  reason  to  distrust  those  disin- 
fections, perfunctorily  gone  through,  after  cases 
of  diphtheria  or  typhus. 

*''In  the  United  States  of  North  America,  even 
the  kitchen  has  been  socialized;  the  food  is  sent 
up  to  each  apartment  or  tenement  by  the  dumb- 
waiter. This  is  a  most  valuable  modern  improve- 
ment for  the  families  of  the  middle  class,  where  a 
shiftless  cook  can  spoil  the  meals  time  and  again. 

**  'The  home  thus  transformed,  will  become 
school,  bathing  establishment,  and  infirmary.  It 
would  also  be  highly  desirable  that  a  reading 
room  might  be  connected  therewith  furnishing 
a  place  where  the  male  members  of  the  families 
might  go  to  improve  their  minds,  instead  of  letting 
their  leisure  cause  them  to  drift  to  far  less  desir- 
able places.  Then  would  the  gaming  houses  and 
drinking  booths  close  up  their  dens,  because  their 
former  patrons  would  no  longer  find  them  the 
one  and  only  panacea ! 

**  'There  is  tangible  reason  for  dire  forebodings 
of  the  breaking  up  of  the  home,  if  the  woman 
should  work  outside  of  it.  In  its  evolution,  the 
home  tends  to  assume  a  higher,  more  serviceable 
mission  than  the  comfortable,  cosy  home  of  the 
English  days  that  were.     The  home  is  no  longer 


112  Houses  of  the  Future 

a  putting  together  of  clean,  attractive,  well 
painted  walls,  behind  which  the  family  shelters 
its  sorrows  and  its  joys;  it  has  become  a  living 
thing,  the  soul  of  a  woman — of  an  educator.  It 
gives  forth  life  and  well-being;  it  educates  the 
children,  brings  rest  to  the  weary  toiler,  and  a 
feeling  of  happiness  which  is  a  joy  forever  to  all. 
It  is  a  soother,  **and  a  comforter  through  the 
strenuous  vale  of  life." 

**  'The  new  woman  will  free  herself  of  all  that 
dreary  petty  host  of  trivialities  which  caused  her 
to  be  desired  by  man,  that  he  might  shift  onerous 
burdens  upon  her  patient  shoulders.  After  she 
becomes  a  worker  in  the  social  beehive,  she,  as 
much  as  her  husband,  will  need  a  home  wherein  she 
may  find  comfort  and  solace.  She  will  yearn  to 
be  loved  for  herself,  and  not  for  the  sum  of  drudg- 
ery which  she  may  be  able  to  wade  through. 
Human  love  is  not  made  merely  to  beget  physical 
comforts,  but  to  fecimdate  the  forces  of  the  spirit, 
rendering  it  almost  divine. 

**  'Friedrich  Nietzsche  has  embodied  the  quint- 
essence of  true  love  in  the  mate  of  Zarathoustra 
who,  yearning  to  have  a  child  superior  to  herself, 
asked  of  the  male: 

"  '  ** Wherefore  dost  thou  desire  me?  Mayhap 
because  of  the  dread  of  solitude?  ...  as  a  pro- 
tection against  the  tedium  vitce  ...      ? 

"  *  *  'If  so,  go !  I  himger  for  a  man  who  may  have 
overcome  self,  and  who  may  have  wrought  out 
from    such  beginnings    as  were    vouchsafed    to 


Houses  of  the  Future  113 

him  a  truly  great  soul.  I  shall  love  the  man  who 
has  preserved  his  body  in  beauteous  strength.  I 
shall  love  the  man  who  will  blend  his  soul  and 
his  body  with  mine,  that  we  may  bring  forth  a 
son,  more  perfect,  stronger  than  those  who  gave 
it  life." 

"  *To  consciously  improve  the  species,  cultivat- 
ing its  health  and  its  virtue,  such  is  the  task. 
This  is  the  sublime  idea  which  in  our  earthiness 
we  overlook,  or  perhaps  sneer  at. 

" '  The  house  of  the  future,  socialized,  a  living 
thing,  sweet,  educating,  and  consoling,  shall  be 
the  true  nest  of  human  couples  who  may  wish 
therein  to  improve  the  species,  and  launch  it 
triumphantly  forth  down  the  ringing  grooves  of 
time/  " 


CHAPTER  X 

URBAN  TRANSIT 

THE  transit  of  people  and  animals  through  the 
streets,  public  places,  etc.,  produces  num- 
berless occasions  for  contagion,  direct  or  indirectj 
through  contact,  or  through  pathological  pro- 
ducts— saliva,  scales,  etc. — of  the  sick  or  con^ 
valescent,  or  through  the  intermediary  of  certain 
insects  and  parasites,  such  as  flies  and  fleas.  As 
the  principal  sources  of  contamination  have  al- 
ready been  examined  in  some  of  the  preceding 
chapters — Wifids,  Living  Beings ^  The  Dwelling — 
I  shall  limit  myself  in  closing  the  study  of  the 
component  factors  of  the  urban  medium  in  Mexico 
to  cursorily  setting  forth  some  special  considera- 
tions relative  to  the  most  frequent  and  most 
important  causes  of  contamination  in  the  streetSp 
and  their  effect  upon  public  health. 

The  street,  well  do  we  know  it,  is  a  constant 
receptacle  of  animal  detritiy  of  sweepings  of  all 
kinds, — containing  fermentable  organic  matter, — 
and  of  various  objects,  more  or  less  pulverized  by 
traffic  and  circulation,  and  mixed  with  the  product 

of  the  pavement's  wastage,   thus  forming  mud 

114 


Urban  Transit  115 

and  dust,  as  it  may  be  wet  or  dry,  the  whole  being 
ground  into  small  particles. 

The  pathogenic  germs  proceeding  from  animal 
detriti  contained  in  the  mud  or  dust  may  be  of 
intestinal  or  urinary  source,  due  to  the  frequency 
with  which  the  street  and  highway  receive  urine 
and  fecal  matter  from  animals,  children,  and  indi- 
viduals of  the  lower  social  strata.  These  germs 
include  the  coli  bacillus,  the  Eherth  bacillus,  the  Koch 
bacillus,  the  cholera  bacillus,  the  dysentery  bacillus, 
that  of  infantile  diarrhoea,  etc.  They  may  also 
proceed  from  the  mouth,  or  from  the  lungs,  and 
may  be  thrown  on  the  street  with  the  expectora- 
tions of  the  wayfarers.  These  are  the  tuberculosis 
bacillus,  the  pneumococcus,  the  germs  of  scarlet  fever ^ 
of  diphtheria,  etc.  They  may  also  proceed  from 
the  skin,  contained  in  the  epithelial  particles 
shed  from  the  sick  afflicted  with  scarlet  fever,  pox, 
etc.,  during  the  period  of  desquamation. 

Mud  and  dust — the  accumulation  of  which 
grows  in  proportion  with  the  traffic  and  the  lack 
of  resistance  of  the  pavement — amoved  continually 
about  through  the  transit  of  carriages,  pedestrians, 
animals,  etc.,  and  by  the  action  of  the  winds,  can 
therefore  extend  everywhere  their  contaminating 
influence,  infinitely  spreading  the  dangers  of 
contagion.  We  must  remember  that  only  a  fifth 
part  of  Mexicans  streets  is  asphalted  or  paved  with 
stones  in  the  proper  way.  The  rest  is  protected 
most  inadequately,  or  destitute  of  all  resisting  protec- 
tion, and  the  public  service  of  watering  and  sweeping 


ii6  Urban  Transit 

the  streets  is  restricted  to  those  which  are  asphalted. 
The  rest  are  left  to  shift  as  best  they  may,  and  their 
cleanliness  is  such  as  they  may  receive  from  the 
tender  mercies  of  the  proverbially  lazy  neighbors. 
Remember  also  the  notorious  habits  of  uncleanliness 
of  our  lower  social  strata — who  rarely  bathe,  washj 
or  change  their  clothes  and  underclothes;  who  expec- 
torate, urinate,  and  dump  refuse  anywhere — and  we 
shall  be  compelled  to  recognize  that  the  bad  class 
of  paving,  the  manifest  deficiencies  in  street  cleaning 
service,  and  the  total  lack  of  hygienic  education  among 
the  people,  make  of  the  urban  circulation  and  traffic 
in  Mexico — though  it  is  impossible  to  exactly  ap- 
praise their  effects — one  of  the  principal  causes  of 
its  morbidity,  and  mortality. 


IV 
General  Recommendations 


117 


CHAPTER  XI 

GENERAL  RECOMMENDATIONS 

READING  the  preceding  chapters  must  impress 
upon  the  mind  of  any  one  who  has  some 
knowledge  of  the  country,  the  conviction  that  the 
component  factors  of  the  urban  medium  of  each 
one  of  our  cities  are  of  great  importance — espe- 
cially such  as  proceed  from  the  social  agglomera- 
tions, that  is  to  say  those  which  exert  the  greatest 
influences  upon  public  health.  These  are,  with 
very  slight  differences,  the  same  as  those  analyzed 
when  we  studied  the  particular  case  of  the  City 
of  Mexico.  It  is  inevitable  that  the  same  causes 
of  insalubrity  will  be  discovered.  Their  relative 
intensity  may  vary  somewhat,  but  they  will 
always  appear  in  such  preponderance,  that  one 
may  safely  conclude  that  the  immense  majority 
of  the  national  urban  population  is  similarly 
affected. 

The  mere  enumeration  of  these  recommenda- 
tions, counsels  a  classification  in  three  distinct 
groups,  and  the  condensation  of  each  one  of  these, 
in  the  three  following  "General  Recommenda- 
tions": 

119 


120       General  Recommendations 

I.  To  organize  efficiently  the  sanitary  administra- 
tion of  the  Republic. 

II.  To  decree:  Compulsory  sanitation  for  every 
city  the  mortality  of  which  exceeds  the  maximum 
limit  of  tolerated  contamination,  and 

III.  To  elevate  the  moral  level,  as  well  as  the 
economic  and  intellectual  levels  of  the  popular 
classes. 

Facing  the  impossibility  of  enclosing  within 
the  narrow  limits  which  this  publication  must 
observe,  the  detailed  and  complete  development 
of  the  vast  questions  which  I  have  enunciated, 
I  shall  content  myself  in  order  to  close,  with 
stating  briefly  in  the  following  pages,  the  funda- 
mental considerations  which,  in  my  opinion,  might 
serve  as  basis  for  the  rational  solution  of  these 
questions. 


CHAPTER  XII 

EFFICIENT     ORGANIZATION     OF     THE     SANITARY 
ADMINISTRATION 

THE  Executive  Power,  in  order  that  it  may  duly 
fulfill  the  political  and  administrative  func- 
tions with  which  it  may  be  entrusted,  must  of 
course  develop  its  activity  in  several,  very  clearly 
defined  directions,  through  appropriate  and  special 
departments.  For  the  proper  carrying  on  of  its 
affairs  with  the  other  countries  of  the  globe  it  has 
the  Department,  Secretary,  or  Ministry  of  Foreign 
Affairs.  For  its  defense  against  possible  attacks 
from  the  same,  or  against  internal  troubles,  it 
has  the  Department  of  War.  In  order  to  establish 
tribunals  adequate  to  fulfill  their  task,  it  has  the 
Department  of  Justice.  For  the  proper  manage- 
ment of  its  finances  it  has  the  Department  of  Fin- 
ance,  and  finally  for  the  purpose  of  improving  and 
fostering  the  physical  and  intellectual  well-being 
of  its  citizens,  it  has  the  Department  of  the  Interior, 
This  classification  includes  logically,  all  forms 
of  the  executive  activity  of  the  administration. 
In  practice,  however,  the  reigning  political  and 
social  tendencies,  giving  a  character  of  absolute 

121 


122      Efficient  Organization  of  the 

preponderance  to  certain  necessities  and  social 
or  national  aspirations,  produce  new  differentia- 
tions, especially,  in  the  matters  comprised  in  the 
last  group.  Thus  specialized,  these  departments 
determine  the  birth,  by  an  almost  biological  pro- 
cess, of  other  independent  organs.  Thus,  prob- 
ably, sprung  up  among  us,  the  departments  of 
Interior  Development,  Colonization,  and  In- 
dustry, that  of  Communications  and  PubHc  Works, 
and  that  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts, 
though  the  latter  has  never  yet  been  able  to  extend, 
in  an  effective  manner,  its  jurisdiction  outside  of 
the  federal  district,  and  the  territories.  Moreover, 
due  to  the  country's  crying  need  of  Agrarian  Re- 
forms, the  regime  of  the  Huertian  Usurpation — 
masquerading  as  a  Hberal  government — subdivided 
the  first  of  the  departments  aforesaid,  into  a 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Industry,  and  a 
Department  of  Agriculture.  This  last  organ  was 
doomed  from  its  birth — ^notwithstanding  its  perfect 
theoretical  justification.  An  illegal,  short-lived, 
so-called  government  had  brought  it  forth,  and 
it  was  destined  to  be  but  a  tool  for  the  designs  of 
capitalism.  But  assuredly  such  a  department 
could  justify  its  creation,  and  thrive  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  justice  which  we  hope  for,  as  a  result  of 
the  triumphant  revolution. 

When  we  consider  that  the  first  factor  necessary 
for  the  realization  of  the  high  aims  of  the  admin- 
istration, is  no  other  than  a  condition  of  healthful- 
ness  among  the  masses,  what  must  we  add  to  the 


Sanitary  Administration  123 

evils  described  in  each  page  of  this  book,  to  de- 
monstrate the  imperious  need  of  a  special  govern- 
mental department,  which  shall  have  the  power 
and  the  spirit  to  eradicate  these  evils,  or  at  least 
to  lessen  them.  Then  at  last  we  may  hope  for 
industrial  prosperity,  for  commercial  and  agri- 
cultural activity,  for  an  effective  army,  and,  in 
a  word,  for  national  autonomy. 

''The  federation  of  certain  sanitary  services," 
says  Doctor  Rafael  Norma,  ex-Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Health  of  Mexico  City,  ''is  practically 
inevitable.  The  state  has  the  right,  and  must 
protect  the  confederate,  securing  the  extinction 
and  avoiding  the  propagation  of  epidemic  disease, 
or  of  endemo-epidemic  illnesses  which  may  be 
ravaging  one  of  the  states  of  the  Union.  These 
have  banded  together  for  mutual  help  and  benefit, 
to  ensure  their  integrity  and  facilitate  their  de- 
velopment, and  as  soon  as  there  springs  up  in 
one  or  more  contiguous  states  or  territories  some 
plague  threatening  to  spread  beyond  its  limits, 
if  neither  the  state  or  states  affected,  nor  those 
threatened,  have  the  necessary  resources  and  are 
unable  to  exercise  coordinate  action  for  circum- 
scribing the  danger,  then  upon  the  Executive 
Power  of  the  Union,  with  its  more  ample  and 
strategic  jurisdiction,  will  devolve  the  duty  of 
going  to  the  rescue.  In  the  same  way  the  state 
or  states  menaced  or  plague-stricken,  have  the 
right  to  request  the  same  assistance  and  to  have 
it  imparted  to  them. 


124      Efficient  Organization  of  the 

**  Unless  we  can  find  the  way  to  federalize  the 
service  of  public  health  and  sanitation,  we  shall 
not  be  able  to  touch  upon  even  slightly  the  medical 
geography  of  infectious  diseases,  which  is  requisite 
to  the  establishing  of  a  knowledge  of  the  geo- 
graphical distribution  of  the  flora  and  fauna  of 
microbes  and  parasites ;  or  to  institute  a  record  of 
national  medical  statistics,  which  is,  of  necessity, 
the  beginning  of  any  and  every  measure  to  remove 
the  causes  (ethnic,  social,  moral,  material,  eco- 
nomic, etc.)  which  determine  avoidable  diseases, 
and  which  cast  races  into  physical  and  intellec- 
tual depression;  or  to  acquire  even  the  rudiments 
of  mesology,  that  inevitable  forerunner  of  every 
precept  which  tends  to  lessen  the  pernicious  effects 
of  the  cosmic  medium  upon  the  human  being. 

**  Sanitary  measures  affect,  or  are  so  intimately 
connected  with  the  other  branches  of  public  ad- 
ministration, that  many  of  them  cannot  be  placed 
in  practice  without  the  concurrence  of  one,  or  of 
all  the  departments  of  state,  whose  jurisdictions 
must  frequently  be  invaded  by  the  rulings  of  the 
sanitary  authorities.  The  latter  cannot  proceed 
with  the  efficacy  and  diligence  necessary,  without 
the  acquiescence  of  the  former,  therefore  it  becomes 
imperative  that  the  representative  of  said  author- 
ity be  in  intimate  and  frequent  contact  with  the 
other  functionaries  of  the  government,  in  order 
that  they  may  proceed  in  each  case  with  the 
required  promptness,  energy,  and  decision.  All 
this  constitutes  an  additional  reason  for  uphold- 


Sanitary  Administration  125 

ing  in  Mexico  the  expediency  of  creating  a  special 
Department  of  Public  Health,  which  would  assume 
the  duty  of  watching  and  enforcing  the  laws  and 
regulations  for  the  protection  of  public  health. 
In  this  case  the  council  of  ministers,  which  con- 
venes as  often  as  necessary  to  study  and  pass 
upon  matters  of  the  greatest  importance,  and  upon 
all  projects  of  special  legislation,  would  fulfill, 
when  necessary,  the  functions  of  the  Board  of 
Public  Health." 

The  example  of  the  Republic  of  Cuba,  in  this 
respect,  is  most  eloquent.  Upon  constituting 
its  own  independent  government — after  the  Span- 
ish-American War — there  was  formed  the  Depart- 
ment of  Sanitation  and  Beneficence,  and  no  one 
can  possibly  doubt  or  question  that  the  awful 
conditions  of  health  and  sanitation  which  obtained 
in  the  Island  of  Cuba  and  Havana  have  been 
enormously  improved  in  a  very  brief  space  of 
time. ' 

Moreover  the  remedy  contained  in  the  second 
of  the  General  Recommendations  which  I  am  ana- 
lyzing— and  which  will  be  the  object  of  the  fol- 
lowing chapter — ^will  prove  of  much  easier  and 
surer  application,  under  the  form  of  organization 
proposed.  The  fulfillment  of  the  decree  of  com- 
pulsory sanitation  for  every  city  the  mortality  of 

^  It  having  been  considered  unnecessary,  the  English  edition 
does  not  include  Annex  No.  4  of  the  Spanish  edition,  containing 
the  part  referring  to  said  Department  in  the  Organic  Law  of  the 
Executive  Power,  and  Regulations  for  the  Government  of  the 
Departments  of  State  of  Cuba,  January  26,  1909. 


126      Efficient  Organization  of  the 

which  exceeds  the  maximum  limit  of  tolerable  con- 
tamination, will  give  rise  to  two  principal  forms 
of  activity;  first,  the  collecting  and  studying 
of  statistical  data  upon  which  decisions  are  to 
be  based — very  numerous  and  of  very  variable 
character — which  must  be  noted  by  the  Sanitary 
Authority,  in  each  case,  for  the  better  protec- 
tion of  the  health  of  the  inhabitants;  second,  the 
execution  or  inspection  of  the  required  works  of 
urbanization.  Assuredly  such  activities,  of  so 
complex  a  character,  and  extending  over  so  vast  a 
field  as  that  offered  by  almost  all  the  cities  of  the 
Republic,  could  not  be  carried  on  satisfactorily 
save  through  an  administrative  organism  the 
importance  of  which  would  equal,  or  perhaps 
exceed  that  of  some  of  the  present  departments 
of  state. 

Whether  the  sanitary  administration  of  the 
republic  be  raised  to  the  rank  of  a  state  depart- 
ment or  not,  the  need  is  most  obvious  of  estab- 
lishing radical  reforms  in  its  present  status,  in 
order  to  render  it  an  efficient  instrument.  We 
must  forthwith  proscribe,  unconditionally,  the 
collegiate  or  corporative  system — Board  of  Health, 
and  Superior  Government  Board^ — and  adopt  the 
system  of  unipersonal  authority,  since  the  former 
if  applicable  only  to  the  consideration  of  matters 
in  which  a  controversy  among  individuals  is  to  be 

'  See  pp.  V,  35,  36,  37,  38, 64,  65,  and  82  of  this  book  and  that 
part  of  Appendix  No.  2  which  refers  to  the  "Board  of  Health 
of  Mexico  City." 


Sanitary  Administration  127 

decided,  may  involve  for  instance,  a  point  of  law, 
and  may  consequently  require  scrupulous  deliber- 
ation. On  the  other  hand  the  unipersonal  form 
is  the  best  for  the  most  efficient  use  of  forces 
and  functions  demanding  energy  and  quickness 
of  action,  and  respecting  which  it  may  be  expe- 
dient to  exact  a  determined  and  well-defined 
responsibility. 

For  the  rest,  efficiency  in  all  manifestations  of 
administrative  activity,  means  economy — in  the 
precise  signification  and  acceptance  of  the  word 
— involving  the  moralization  of  the  official  ambi- 
ency,  and  constituting  in  this  way,  one  of  the 
most  important  factors  in  the  moral  education  of 
the  popular  classes. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

COMPULSORY  SANITATION 

HAVING  established  compulsory  sanitation  in 
every  city  having  a  mortality  exceeding  the  max- 
imum limit  of  tolerable  contamination,  the  first  ques- 
tion which  arises  is  this :  how  can  we  fix  this  limit 
of  contamination?  R.  Mace  and  Ed.  Imbeaux — 
hygienists  of  world-wide  authority — affirm  that 
the  coefficient  of  mortality  corresponding  to  a 
model  city  must  not  exceed  seventeen  deaths  per 
year  for  each  thousand  inhabitants.  French 
legislation  causes  the  value  of  the  maximum  toler- 
able limit  to  vary,  by  fixing  each  time,  the  average 
of  the  coefficients  given  out  by  all  the  urban  ag- 
glomerations. This  is  equivalent  to  imposing  on 
all  those  cities  whose  mortality  exceeds  the  total 
average  indicated,  the  obligation  of  submitting 
to  compulsory  sanitation.  In  the  message  which 
the  chief  of  the  executive  power  of  the  Republic 
of  Uruguay  sent,  in  December,  191 1,  to  the  general 
congress  of  Montevideo,  submitting  a  project  of 
law  to  be  executed  by  the  state  concerning  works 
of  sanitation  and  the  provision  of  drinking  water 

in  the  cities  and  villas  of  Campafia,  the  admissible 

128 


Compulsory  Sanitation  129 

maximum  of  contamination  was  fixed  at  nineteen 
deaths  per  year  for  each  thousand  inhabitants. 
If  we  accepted  for  our  cities  an  even  higher  co- 
efficient, say  twenty,  and  were  assured  that  the 
sanitary  authority,  by  means  of  strenuous  action, 
would  reduce  the  urban  mortaHty  to  the  said 
proportion,  then  in  the  City  of  Mexico  alone  there 
would  he  saved  yearly  more  than  ten  thousand  deaths, 
and  a  much  higher  number  of  illnesses  would  be 
prevented — we  completely  lack  statistical  data  on 
morbidity — which  detract  much  energy  from  the 
national  effort,  and  considerably  increase  the  unpro- 
ductive consumption.  Can  a  better  field  be  found 
for  the  fruitful  employment  of  government  energy 
in  behalf  of  the  future  development  and  prosperity 
of  the  Nation  ? 

For  the  proper  application  of  the  law  of  com- 
pulsory sanitation  we  must  urge  the  very  great 
importance  of  the  speedy  construction  of  the 
works  of  urbanization  required  in  nearly  all  the 
cities  of  the  Republic. 

Article  289  of  the  Cuban  Law  on  the  subject 
states:  ''Whenever  a  provincial  or  municipal 
authority  should  neglect  to  carry  on  the  works  or 
services  required  by  the  Secretary  of  Sanitation 
and  Beneficence,  in  accordance  with  the  law  and 
the  regulations,  after  the  term  which  the  Secretary 
of  the  Department  may  have  set,  the  latter  shall 
have  the  right  to  order  that  the  said  works  be 
undertaken  and  carried  out  charging  the  same  to 
the  corresponding  credit,  or  to  that  of  epidemics, 
9 


130  Compulsory  Sanitation 

or  to  be  apportioned  between  both,  but  the  pro- 
vince or  municipality  causing  the  outlay  shall  be 
liable  for  the  disbursement.  The  secretary,  re- 
presenting the  State,  shall  be  authorized  to  claim 
before  the  competent  tribunal  the  said  reimburse- 
ment and  when  this  shall  have  been  realized,  the 
amount  will  be  paid  into  the  National  Treasury.'* 
Therefore,  as  soon  as  the  need  for  the  construction 
of  works  of  urbanization,  or  for  establishing  any 
kind  of  public  sanitation,  be  ascertained  as  exist- 
ing in  any  one  of  our  cities,  in  case  the  municipal 
authority  should  fail  to  satisfy  the  said  need 
within  a  reasonable  term  imposed  by  the  supreme 
sanitary  authority — Ministry,  General  Board  of 
Public  Health,  or  whatever  it  may  be  termed — 
the  latter  shall  be  empowered  to  satisfy  the  said 
need,  charging  it  to  the  account  of  the  local  author- 
ity mentioned.  The  resulting  invasions  into  a 
sphere  of  action  clearly  municipal,  limited  as 
already  stated  to  the  sole  exercise  of  a  supplemen- 
tary function  exacted  by  public  health,  would 
most  assuredly  not  lack  justification. 

Now  we  come  to  a  great  stumbling-block. 
Where  can  we  get  the  money  to  carry  on  works  of 
such  magnitude  ?  This  depends  upon  the  earnest- 
ness with  which  we  attack  the  problem  of  raising 
ourselves  to  the  level  of  a  civilized  community. 

It  is  a  simple  problem  of  taxes.  The  circum- 
stance that  various  families  have  settled  in  a 
given  place,  adds  to  the  noxious  influences  of  the 
surroimding  medium  upon  the  human  organism. 


Compulsory  Sanitation  131 

those  derived  from  physical  and  moral  relations 
inherent  to  social  life,  influences  which  have  been 
studied  in  detail  in  the  course  of  this  book,  and 
against  which  the  urban  agglomerate  must  ever 
defend  itself,  as  an  indispensable  condition  for 
its  subsistence,  its  growth,  and  prosperity.  The 
chief  means  of  defense  rests  in  house  building  to 
protect  the  inhabitants,  and  in  the  works  of 
urbanization  destined  to  fill  the  community's 
needs  for  sanitation.  Now,  as  construction  signi- 
fies a  productive  investment  of  capital,  it  is  the 
owners,  in  consequence,  who  must  subscribe  or 
withstand,  through  the  payment  of  taxes,  the 
load  corresponding  to  the  execution  of  exterior 
works  of  urbanization.  The  functions  belonging 
to  authority,  and  which  the  latter  cannot  evade  with- 
out failing  to  fulfil  its  great  duty  of  protecting  the 
life  and  well-being  of  the  governed  are:  to  affix  the 
total  amount  of  taxes  to  be  paid  so  as  to  make  possible 
the  disbursements  required  by  the  construction,  con- 
servation, and  ulterior  enlargement  of  the  urbaniza- 
tion works;  to  distribute  equitably  all  the  taxes  among 
the  tax-payers;  to  collect  the  same^  and  to  see  to  the 
execution  of  the  aforesaid  works. 

We  must  not  take  in  consideration  the  possibil- 
ity that  the  owners  might  shift  the  load  of  the  new 
taxes  on  to  the  tenants,  raising  proportionately 
the  price  of  the  rent,  because  sooner  or  later,  the 
house  occupants  are  those  who  receive  the  benefits 
of  the  sanitary  work  done,  and  besides  these  v/orks 
naturally    increase    the    value    of    the    property. 


132  Compulsory  Sanitation 

Besides  the  taxes  would  not  be  onerous.  In  the 
village  of  Mixcoac,  federal  district,  for  instance, 
no  special  tax  is  paid  for  the  service  of  public 
sanitation,  and  there  are  nearly  two  thousand  lots 
of  improved  and  unimproved  property,  within 
urban  limits.  If  these  parcels  of  property  were 
taxed  on  the  average  about  four  pesos  per  month — 
naturally  the  taxation  would  have  to  be  appor- 
tioned equitably — then  there  would  be  taken  in 
a  stmi  sufficient  to  pay  interest  and  accumulate 
a  sinking  fund  to  meet  a  loan  of  nearly  one  million 
of  pesos,  a  sum  with  which  assuredly,  it  would  be 
possible  to  execute  the  works  of  paving,  sanitation, 
and  provision  of  drinking  water  which  the  town 
may  need. 

In  short,  in  order  to  efficaciously  apply  the  law 
of  compulsory  sanitation,  and  create  an  inexhaust- 
ible fount  of  benefits  for  the  people,  such  as  the 
prevention  of  premature  deaths,  the  prevention 
of  many  illnesses,  and  of  suffering  untold,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  giving  of 
employment  to  hundreds  of  thousands,  to-day 
unemployed,  in  the  works  to  be  undertaken  in  all 
the  cities  of  the  Republic,  it  is  only  required  that 
the  government  have  a  true  consciousness  of  its 
duties,  and  sufficient  energy  to  fulfill  them. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  INTELLECTUAL,  MORAL,  AND  ECONOMIC 
IMPROVEMENT  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

WHOEVER  knows  something  of  our  history, 
and  is  able  to  view  with  impartiality  the 
long  and  complicated  process  of  the  formation  of 
our  nationality,  extending  from  the  pre-Cortes 
period,  through  the  troublous  time  of  the  Con- 
quest, the  colonial  days  under  the  viceroys,  the 
wars  of  independence,  the  convulsions  of  nearly 
one  century  of  autonomous  existence,  calmed 
only  by  the  iron  hand  of  Diaz,  until  our  own  time, 
will  be  bound  to  discover,  in  the  salient  manifesta- 
tions of  the  life  of  the  national  organism,  the  un- 
equivocal symptoms  and  stigmata  of  a  serious 
pathological  state,  brought  about  by  two  principal 
agents :  the  loathsome  corruption  of  the  upper  classes 
and  the  inconscience  and  wretchedness  of  the  lower. 
The  iniquitous  means  employed  by  Don  Porfirio 
Diaz,  during  more  than  thirty  years,  for  imposing 
peace,  not  only  nullified  all  efforts  tending  to 
remedy  the  evils  discussed,  but  in  addition  served 
to  intensify  them.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  satis- 
fied the  omnivorous  appetites  of  his  friends  and 

133 


134  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

satellites;  he  crushed  and  by  criminal  means 
caused  the  disappearance  of  whoever  failed  to 
render  tribute  or  bow  to  his  will;  he  fostered 
cowards  and  sycophants,  repressing  systematically, 
with  an  iron  hand,  every  impulse  of  manliness  and 
truth.  He  placed  the  administration  of  justice 
at  the  unconditional  disposal  of  the  rich,  paying 
not  the  slightest  heed  to  the  lamentations  of  the 
poor.  In  a  word,  he  increased  the  immorality  and 
corruption  of  the  small  and  privileged  ruling 
class,  and  increased,  in  consequence,  the  sufferings 
of  the  immense  majority,  grovelling  in  ignorance 
and  hunger.  Therefore  the  thirty  or  more  years 
of  praetorian  peace  but  served  to  deepen  still  fur- 
ther the  chasm  of  hatred  and  rancor  separating 
the  two  mentioned  classes,  and  to  necessarily  and 
fatally  provoke  the  social  convulsion,  begun  in 
1910,  which  has  shaken  the  whole  country. 

The  three  aspects  of  the  problem  which  I  have 
presented — the  economic,  the  intellectual,  and 
the  moral — coincide  with  the  purposes  of  education 
through  the  schools ^  as  ideally  dreamed  of  by  think- 
ers. They  have  been  conceived  as  ^^institutions 
the  object  of  which  is  to  guide  and  control  the  forma- 
tion of  habits  in  order  to  realize  the  highest  social 
goody  ^  But  our  schools,  imfortunately,  have 
not  yet  acquired  the  necessary  strength  to  counter- 
act to  an  appreciable  degree,  the  horrible  environ- 

*  William  Henry  Pyle,  Ph.D.  Quotation  of  Ezequiel  A. 
Chdvez  in  his  notes  on  my  booklet,  Rudimentary  Instruction  in 
the  Republic, 


Improvement  of  the  People       135 

ment  of  immorality,  or  to  counterbalance  its 
inevitable  influence  toward  social  dissolution. 

The  work  and  tendencies  of  the  Department  of 
Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts  have  in  truth 
oscillated  between  two  extremes.  On  the  one 
hand,  we  find  the  costly,  Utopian,  and  beautiful 
formula  of  integral  education,  imposed  and  upheld 
by  D.  Justo  Sierra  in  the  federal  district  and  the 
territories  for  many  years,  and  on  the  other  the 
grotesque  and  pauperizing  plan  of  rudimentary 
instruction  proposed  by  D.  Jorge  Vera  Estanol, 
at  the  end  of  the  Diaz  regime,  and  at  the  beginn- 
ing of  the  Huerta  period,  with  the  object  of  extend- 
ing its  sphere  of  action  over  the  whole  national 
territory. 

The  moral  failure  of  the  official  effort  toward 
i?itegral  education — though  it  produced  some  beau- 
tiful examples  of  Hndergartens  and  elemental  and 
superior  schools — ^was  proved  by  the  intense  cor- 
ruption shown  by  the  ruling  classes  of  the  capital, 
in  the  face  of  the  terrible  political  happenings 
of  the  past  years.  Its  intellectual  failure  may 
be  proven  by  the  follov/ing  statistics:  Out  of  the 
^20, '^$3  inhabitants  of  the  federal  district,  the  census 
of  igio  registered  only  j6i,poi  individuals  who  knei' 
how  to  read  and  write — that  is,  scarcely  fifty  per  cent, 
of  the  total  population.^    In  this  connection  it  is 

^  For  the  whole  population  of  the  Republic,  the  proportion 
of  literacy  is  even  more  reduced,  as  it  barely  reaches  thirty  per 
cent.  (4,394,311  out  of  a  total  of  15,139,855  inhabitants). — ■ 
Census  19 10, 


136  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

well  to  note  that  a  goodly  portion  of  the  individuals 
comprised  in  this  figure  received  their  instruction 
in  private  schools. 

It  is  easy  to  ascertain  the  causes  of  the  failure  of 
our  schools  to  produce  results.  In  the  first  place,  a 
fitful  influence  upon  the  pupils^  of  only  a  few  hours 
a  day,  during  the  so-called  school-period,  could 
never  of  itself  realize  the  work  of  integral  educa- 
tion. As  is  well  known,  results  can  be  obtained 
only  from  the  combined  action  of  the  schools  and 
the  physical  and  moral  media,  the  latter  being 
principally  formed  by  the  convergence  of  condi- 
tions which  prevail  in  the  cosmic,  domestic,  official, 
and  social  ambients.  Let  us  call  to  mind  in  this 
connection  our  apartment  and  tenement  blocks 
— dens  of  all  wretchedness  and  vice — and  our 
public  administration,  and  our  society,  absolutely 
permeated  with  immorality.  In  the  second  place, 
the  official  educational  effort  has  failed  because 
the  department  has  striven  solely  to  satisfy  the 
minutest  theoretical,  material,  and  technical  requi- 
sites, imitating  fine  foreign  models,  and  producing 
some  noteworthy  establishments  as  fine  as  any 
in  the  United  States  or  Switzerland;  but  their 
cost,  in  relation  to  the  scant  fimds  available, 
permitted  the  establishment  only  of  a  number 
much  smaller  than  that  required  by  the  enormous 
illiterate  mass  of  the  metropolitan  population. 

The  system  of  rudimentary  instruction  served 
to  extend  the  movement  throughout  the  Republic, 

*  See  pages  91-95  and  106-109  of  this  book. 


Improvement  of  the  People       137 

simplifying  the  school  program  and  reducing, 
correspondingly,  the  cost  of  foundation  and  up- 
keep of  the  schools.  Unfortunately,  the  simplifi- 
cation was  carried  too  far,  and  a  ridiculously 
small  sum  was  set  aside  for  the  purpose,  whereas 
the  sum  required  would  have  amounted  to  many 
millions  of  pesos.  The  Decree  on  the  subject 
promulgated  by  the  President  of  the  Republic  on 
June  I,  191 1,  states: 

''Art.  1st.  The  Union's  Executive  is  hereby 
authorized  to  establish  throughout  the  whole  Republic 
schools  for  rudimentary  instruction,  independent  of 
the  primary  schools  already  in  existence,  or  which 
may  be  founded  hereafter. 

"Art.  2d.  The  principal  object  of  the  schools 
of  rudimentary  instruction  will  be  to  teach  the 
natives  to  speak,  read,  and  write  Spanish;  and  to 
impart  to  them  elementary  arithmetic, 

*'Art.  3d.  The  rudimentary  instruction  will 
extend  over  the  space  of  two  years  at  most. 

''Art.  4th.  These  schools  will  be  established 
and  increased  as  the  funds  of  the  Executive  may 
permit. 

"Art.  5th.  The  Executive  is  likewise  author- 
ized to  foster  the  establishment  of  rudimentary 
private  schools. 

"Art.  6th.  The  teaching  to  be  imparted  in 
keeping  with  the  recent  law,  shall  not  be  compul- 
sory: it  shall  be  imparted  to  all  the  illiterate  who 
may  apply  to  the  schools,  without  regard  to  sex  or  age, 

"Art.  7th.     The  Executive  will  stimulate  at- 


13S  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

tendance  at  the  schools,  distributing  food  and 
clothing  for  the  pupils^  according  to  their  circum- 
stances. 

''Art.  8th.  This  law  does  not  affect  the  ob- 
servance of  those  laws  relating  to  compulsory 
education  which  are  extant,  or  may  be  enacted  in 
the  states,  the  federal  district,  or  in  the  territories. 

''Art.  9th.  To  initiate  this  system  of  teaching, 
the  Executive  will  have  placed  at  his  disposal 
the  sum  of  three  hundred  thousand  pesos,  during  the 
next  fiscal  year. 

■'Art.  loth.  The  Executive  will  regulate  this 
law  within  his  constitutional  rights. 

"Art.  I  ith.  At  each  session  period,  the  Union's 
Executive  will  be  in  duty  bound  to  render  a 
report  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  regarding  the 
application  and  progress  of  this  law,  and  also  as 
regards  the  use  made  of  the  fund  devoted  to  the 
purpose. '' 

I  believe  I  have  shown  the  utter  impossibility 
of  applying  this  law,  in  the  pamphlet  entitled 
Rudimentary  Instruction  in  the  Republic,  which  I 
published  in  June,  1912,  during  my  tenure  of 
office  as  Assistant  Secretary  of  Public  Instruction 
and  Fine  Arts,  with  the  purpose  of  having  an  in- 
vestigation made  which  would  satisfactorily  solve 
a  problem  involving  so  much  responsibiHty  for 
the  government  and  of  so  great  importance  for 
the  country.  Here  are  some  extracts  from  the 
aforesaid  booklet,  in  regard  to  the  technical  defects 
of  the  school  program  under  discussion: 


Improvement  of  the  People       139 

"The  law  prescribes  in  its  third  article  that 
rudimentary  instruction  extend ^  at  most^  over  two 
annual  courses. 

"Consider  the  relative  facility  of  operation  of 
the  primary  schools  of  the  Federal  District,  served 
by  a  staff  specially  prepared  to  teach,  with  pro- 
grams, texts,  and  school  matter  adequate  to  the 
purpose,  and  all  moving  under  the  efficacious 
vigilance  of  an  active  and  intelligent  technical 
inspection.  Then  compare  these  conditions  with 
the  necessarily  narrow  and  difficult  situation  in 
which  the  rudimentary^  schools  would  have  to 
work,  owing  to  the  restricted  means  at  their  dis- 
posal, with  an  organization  made  up  of  teachers 
recruited  in  the  same  places  where  the  schools 
would  be  established,  these  places  having  been 
selected  as  being  'the  most  backward  in  the 
country.'  These  teachers  follow  methods  and 
texts  in  keeping  with  their  own  lack  of  instruction 
and  preparation,  a  circumstance  which  has  al- 
ready brought  forth  from  well-deserved  oblivion, 
such  pedagogic  antiquities  as  the  'San  Miguel* 
Primer.  The  whole  scheme  would  perforce  be 
abandoned  to  its  fate  because  of  the  practical 
impossibility  of  establishing  an  effective  inspec- 
tion. Remember,  also,  that  in  the  primary  schools 
of  the  Federal  District,  despite  its  almost  splendid 
endowment  of  technical  elements  and  materials, 
the  pupils  read  and  write  at  the  end  of  the  second 
year,  only  with  considerable  difficulty.  Then  you 
will  realize  how  absurd  it  is  to  expect  that  the 


140  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

utterly  illiterate  pupils  of  the  rudimentary  school, 
who  are  mostly  Indians  who  know  only  their 
indigenous  dialects,  can  learn  to  speak,  read,  and 
write  Castilian  in  a  space  of  time  no  longer  than 
two  years,  the  time  prescribed  by  law. 

''However  let  us  accept  for  the  time  being  the 
possibility  of  the  textual  application  of  Article 
3d  of  the  law.  Fault  has  been  found  with  the 
institution  of  the  rudimentary  schools  because 
of  its  scant  value  as  a  plan  of  integral  education. 
On  the  one  hand,  reading,  writing,  and  the  basic 
operations  of  arithmetic,  though  they  do  not 
lack,  owing  to  the  exercises  of  mental  analysis 
which  their  teaching  promotes,  certain  valuable 
educational  importance,  are  properly  speaking 
only  means  to  acquire  other  human  knowledge, 
and  are  not  sufficient  of  themselves,  speaking 
pedagogically,  to  produce  the  required  correlation 
of  studies.  On  the  other  hand,  the  scantiness  of 
the  available  funds  for  the  teaching  staff,  schools, 
fiurniture,  and  school  supplies,  results  in  a  combin- 
ation of  conditions  hardly  adequate  to  ensure  the 
harmonious  development  of  all  of  the  child's 
faculties.  Of  the  two  ends  attained  by  this  result, 
instruction  and  discipline,  the  second  is  consid- 
ered of  greater  importance,  as  its  object  is  *to 
accustom  the  pupil  to  observe,  to  reason,  and  to 
express  his  ideas;  to  moderate  and  control  his  pas- 
sions, to  respect  the  rights  of  others,  and  to  acquire 
habits  of  cleanliness,  order,  and  method,  which  are 
of  so  great  a  value  later  in  his  life  in  society.' 


Improvement  of  the  People       141 

Yet  this  spirit  of  discipline,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
is  precisely  the  result  least  favored  by  the  program 
of  rudimentary  education.  Conclusions  based  on 
these  considerations  and  exaggerating  perhaps 
the  dangers  of  not  adhering  strictly  to  the  modern 
pedagogic  canons,  have  caused  some  educators  to 
stigmatize  the  said  schools  as  being  excellent 
breeding  grounds  for  ^ Zapatistas^  (banditti  mas- 
querading as  political  agitators). 

"I  do  not  consider  such  opinion  well  founded. 
It  attributes  to  the  school,  in  an  exclusive  manner, 
all  educational  power  over  individuals,  and  it  for- 
gets many  other  factors  of  as  great  if  not  greater 
influence  than  the  school,  such  as  atavic  tenden- 
cies, the  ambient,  the  struggle  for  life,  etc.  I  am 
sufficiently  heretic  to  believe  that,  were  it  possible 
to  make  the  quantitative  analysis  of  all  these 
influences  in  the  final  work  of  education,  probably 
the  school  would  not  have  the  greatest  share  of 
influence.  I  appeal  to  all  my  fellow  citizens  who 
know  how  to  speak,  read,  and  write  Spanish,  and 
to  perform  the  operations  of  elementary  arithmetic, 
and  who,  nevertheless,  are  not  ^ Zapatistas^  though 
they  have  studied  in  the  primary  schools  of  the 
country,  which  have  been,  until  very  recently, 
such  as  are  advocated  by  the  promoters  of  rudi- 
mentary schools. 

*^ Still  the  danger  pointed  out  is  not  chimerical; 
the  foregoing  pessimistic  conclusion  has  its  basis 
in  fact.  This  is  especially  the  case  owing  to  the 
weak    educational    action    of    the    rudimentary 


142  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

schools,  so  restricted  in  their  field,  and  because  of 
the  purely  abstract  character  of  the  teaching  which 
these  schools  are  designed  to  impart,  which  is 
liable  to  render  them  useless  or  noxious.  I  refer 
to  the  'most  backward  regions  of  the  country,' 
where,  owing  to  their  aloofness  from  all  centers  of 
progress  and  activity,  their  distance  from  means 
of  communication,  and  the  special  conditions  of 
life  of  their  inhabitants,  the  abstract  rudimentary 
knowledge  there  diffused  cannot  have  an  immedi- 
ate practical  application,  such  knowledge  being 
forgotten  with  a  promptness  in  direct  ratio  to  the 
deficiency  of  the  teaching,  rendering  all  schooling 
quite  useless.  Moreover,  in  cases  w^here  exactly 
the  preceding  does  not  happen,  the  uplift  pro- 
duced by  the  schools  of  the  intellectual  level  of 
the  people  is  not  accompanied,  owing  to  the  schools 
themselves  or  to  outside  causes,  by  an  increase 
of  material  well-being.  The  school  work  in  all 
cases  where  the  balance  between  the  mental  and 
economical  levels  of  the  people  was  disturbed, 
would  create  a  permanent  condition  of  discontent, 
and  an  admirable  field  for  the  pernicious  activity 
of  conscienceless  and  unscrupulous  demagogues 
giving  voice  to  agrarian  socialism  of  the  'Oroz- 
quista*  and  'Zapatista'  brand,  advocating  the 
instant  and  absolute  despohation  of  all  landowners. 
This  would  happen  even  if  we  substituted  the 
integral  for  the  rudimentary  instruction.  How- 
ever much  the  school  influence  may  improve  man, 
he  remains  human,  and  it  is  natural  that  his  un- 


Improvement  of  the  People      .143 

satisfied  material  needs  exert  a  greater  influence 
on  his  acts  than  his  will  power.  To  analyze 
misery  is  to  increase  it  a  hundredfold.  To  project 
light  into  consciences  by  means  of  abstract  teachings, 
in  order  to  bring  out  only  wretchedness,  at  the 
same  time  leaving  in  the  dark  such  ways  as  might 
lead  to  economic  improvement,  is  therefore  a 
most  cruel  irony  for  the  people,  and  a  menace  for 
our  social  regime. 

"Considering  that  the  State  must  preferentially 
impart  elementary  teaching  to  individuals  of 
school  age,  and  only  exceptionally  to  adults,  and 
that  the  corresponding  restriction  of  attendance 
at  schools  increases  fourfold  the  impossibility  of 
applying  the  law  (since  the  population  of  school 
age  which  at  present  does  not  receive  instruc- 
tion is  equivalent  to  the  fourth  part  of  the  total 
number  of  illiterates),  we  find  justified  the  economic 
convenience  of  modifying  in  the  sense  indicated 
Articles  6th  and  7th  of  the  said  law.  The  latter 
of  these  articles  might  be  advantageously  sup- 
pressed, for  until  the  Union  Congress  shall  author- 
ize in  the  budget  the  entry  required  to  realize 
the  principal  object  of  the  decree — the  complete 
diffusion  of  teaching — ^it  becomes  ridiculous,  or 
at  least  useless,  aside  from  the  immorality  of 
extending  it  to  adults,  to  likewise  empower  the 
Executive  to  feed  and  clothe  the  pupils. 

"  I  have  shown  that  the  program  of  rudimentary 
education,  in  spite  of  its  meagemess  could  not 


144  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

possibly  be  completed  within  the  period  of  two 
years,  which  the  decree  fixes  as  the  limit.  The 
inevitable  necessity  appreciably  of  increasing 
this  term  in  order  to  be  able  to  apply  the  law  with 
efficiency  is  apparent.  This  extension  of  time 
can  also  be  made  use  of  by  adding  to  the  scanti- 
ness of  the  educational  fare,  and  thereby  increasing 
and  guaranteeing  the  practical  utility  of  the 
teaching. 

"It  is  not  sufficient  that  the  subjects  of  the 
program  enable  the  pupil,  later  on,  to  acquire 
further  useful  knowledge  for  the  battles  of  life. 
We  must  give  him  the  assurance,  or  at  least  assure 
the  probability,  that  the  labor  started  in  the  school 
will  be  extended,  by  means  of  the  very  best  modern 
founts  of  information:  the  book  and  the  news- 
paper. The  demand  for  this  information  by  those 
who  are  being  educated,  is  doubtless  the  only 
possible  guarantee  that  education  will  continue 
after  school  days.  This  interest  cannot  exist  if 
the  pupils  are  incapable  of  understanding  books 
and  newspapers ;  if  they  have  not  been  given  some 
knowledge  concerning  the  peoples  of  the  world. 
They  should  be  taught  the  situation  of  the  various 
coimtries,  and  the  habits  of  the  different  peoples; 
they  should  know  something  of  foreign  institu- 
tions, and  should  have  some  idea  of  the  natural 
products,  commerce,  and  industry  of  other  coun- 
tries. In  short,  they  should  be  taught  the  elements 
of  geography.  Moreover,  the  characteristic  aspect 
of  this  subject  is  that  it  harbors  and  welcomes  the 


Improvement  of  the  People       145 

general  principles  of  other  physical  and  natural 
sciences.  The  study  thereof  places  the  pupils 
in  closer  contact  with  nature — our  great  fount  of 
teaching — and  has  besides,  owing  to  that  great 
variety  of  knowledge  on  meteorology,  astronomy, 
mineralogy,  botany,  zoology,  etc.,  which  go  to 
make  it  up,  a  remarkable  educational  value. 

"If  the  law  seeks  to  establish  the  uniformity  of 
language  throughout  the  commonwealth — a  power- 
ful stimulus  of  patriotism — with  the  diffusion  or 
propagation  of  Spanish  among  the  natives,  and 
if  the  teaching  of  geography,  wiping  out  the 
narrow  limits  of  parochialism,  renders  possible 
the  uplifting  of  provincialism  into  a  wider  and 
nobler  patriotism,  then  surely  some  knowledge 
of  history  would  have  to  be  added.  Emile  Faguet 
has  told  us  that :  *  The  fatherland  is  its  history. ' 
Consequently  the  study  of  the  nation^s  history, 
while  imbuing  the  pupils  with  the  love  and  honor 
of  country,  brings  forth  in  the  citizen  a  feeling 
of  responsibility  towards  the  commonwealth, 
and  this  is  of  transcendental  importance. 

^'Finally,  what  would  indeed  round  up  the 
practical  side  of  the  program  of  elemental  in- 
struction or  education,  would  be  the  addition  of 
drawing,  singing,  and  manual  arts,  for  the  purpose 
of  bringing  out  the  latent  esthetic  sense  and  de- 
veloping technical  efficiency,  constituting  an 
admirable  preparation  for  industrial  life.  The 
teaching  of  these  subjects  should  be  in  perfect 
harmony  with   the  predominant  industrial  pro- 


10 


146  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

duction,  or  with  the  industry  most  susceptible 
of  flourishing  in  the  locality.  The  teaching  of 
manual  arts  has  moreover  a  very  important  moral 
influence,  because  it  adds  dignity  to  manual 
labor,  lifting  it  towards  the  sphere  of  the  mind. 

''Surely  three  years  would  be  sufficient,  that  is 
to  say  one  more  than  the  time  appointed  by  the 
extant  law,  to  develop  the  curriculum  as  here 
proposed,  while  retaining  of  course  the  elemental 
character  to  the  whole  of  the  instruction.  This 
is  the  duration  of  instruction  in  Porto  Rico's  rural 
schools. 

"And  to  crown  the  work  begun  by  the  elemen- 
tary schools,  directed  in  a  technological  sense,  let  the 
law  authorize  the  Executive,  finally,  to  establish 
in  each  region,  and  in  keeping  with  its  necessities, 
one  or  several  practical  industrial  or  agricultural 
schools.  The  principal  object  of  these  schools 
would  be  to  perfect  the  usual  methods  of  pro- 
duction so  as  to  increase  and  improve  the  output, 
and  to  enable,  through  the  propagation  of  the 
most  modem  methods  and  teachings,  persons  of 
enterprise  and  thrift  to  establish  new  industries: 
by-products  of  the  natural  output,  or  of  the  special 
aptness  of  the  inhabitants.  The  value  of  new 
methods  and  influence  would  be  beyond  computa- 
tion in  the  industry  and  pursuits  of  many  of  our 
natives,  such  as  the  ceramic  art  and  pottery  in 
Guadalajara;  the  manufacture,  as  at  Olinala 
(Guerrero)  and  Uruapan  (Michoacan),  of  vases 
and  trunks  decorated  with  most  original  drawings 


Improvement  of  the  People       147 

by  means  of  a  certain  paint  similar  to  the  best 
Japanese  enamel;  of  the  laces  and  embroideries  of 
Aguascalientes ;  of  the  shawls  of  Santa  Maria 
(San  Luis  Potosi)  and  of  Tenancingo  (Mexico)  ; 
of  the  hats  (imitations  of  Jipijapa  or  Panama 
hats)  of  some  parts  of  Yucatan,  for  the  making 
of  which  they  carry  the  palm  and  fiber  from  the 
department  of  Peten  (Guatemala),  though  it 
exists  in  a  wild  state  in  the  valley  of  the  San  Pedro 
River,  an  affluent  of  the  Usumacinta,  at  Tabasco; 
and  of  the  Mexican  hats  of  western  Tabasco ;  of  the 
Oaxaca  mattings  and  those  made  by  the  Chamula 
Indians  of  Chiapas.  Finally,  in  a  very  great 
number  of  smaller  industries,  such  as  cloth  mak- 
ing, pottery,  basket  weaving,  carried  on  by  all  the 
surviving  autochthonous  tribes,  who  still  use  most 
cumbersome  and  laborious  primitive  methods, 
the  production  could,  by  means  of  school  teach- 
ing, ingenuity,  and  adaptability,  be  so  increased 
that  substantial  markets  in  foreign  parts  could 
be  created,  and  nevertheless  the  characteristic 
native  effect  be  retained.  Let  us  recall  in  this 
connection,  the  weavings  of  Pamachic,  of  local 
fame,  for  the  making  of  which  the  Tarahumar 
women  use  so  primitive  an  apparatus  that — accord- 
ing to  Carl  Lumholtz — a  scarf  means  the  work  of 
four  days,  and.  a  blanket  the  labor  of  a  whole  year. 
Let  us  consider,  moreover,  the  influence  which 
would  be  exercised  by  the  popularization  in  every 
locality  of  the  most  effective  and  rapid  methods 
of  cultivation,  by  the  industrial  transformation  of 


148  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

the  products  of  the  soil,  to-day  not  utilized,  and  by 
the  utilization  of  numberless  founts  of  production 
to-day  untouched,  and  we  shall  reach  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  people  through  such  means,  would 
not  only  acquire  most  valuable  and  steadying 
knowledge,  but  would  beget  the  means  of  econo- 
mical improvement  which  they  need  so  sorely  and 
would  bring  up  to  an  adequate  level  the  wealth, 
industry,  and  welfare  of  the  whole  country. 

''But  if  the  essential  condition  for  satisfactorily 
bringing  into  being  social  facts  derived  from  the 
various  technical  professions,  is  the  efficiency  of 
the  staff,  this  requirement  becomes  even  more 
imperious  when  we  think  of  the  teaching  staff 
which  relies  upon  a  science  whose  mysteries  are 
just  beginning  to  be  known :  Psychology.  This  is 
all  the  more  important  when  the  curriculum  is 
not  too  rigidly  defined,  and  necessarily  cannot 
be  so,  as  elasticity  and  latitude  must  be  allowed 
for  the  exercise  of  good  judgment  and  discern- 
ment, according  to  the  race  and  the  environment. 
A  great  educator  tells  us :  '  The  professor  and  the 
pupil  must  possess  the  same  intimate,  inward 
sense :  a  mutual  affinity,  as  condition  of  dual  moral 
and  intellectual  development.  The  professor 
must  embody  in  his  personality  the  characteristic 
phases  and  periods  of  development  shown  in  the 
pupil,  so  that  the  intellectual  forces  of  the  child 
may  be  enveloped  in  that  atmosphere  of  sympathy 
and  esteem  which  is  necessary  for  a  wholesome 
activity.     If  the  teaching  is  to  be  efficacious,  and 


Improvement  of  the  People       149 

the  development  natural,  there  must  be  in  both 
teacher  and  pupil  certain  intuitive  elements  as  a 
result  of  the  same  ethnical  phases.'  Hence,  so 
that  the  popular  instruction  may  be  truly  fruit- 
ful, it  must  be  entrusted  to  a  staff  proceeding  from 
the  same  locality  as  the  pupils;  and  therefore  we 
must  proceed,  before  anything  else,  and  above 
everything  else,  to  form  this  great  staff  by  means 
of  the  previous  establishment  of  regional  normal 
schools. 

"In  short,  it  may  be  said  that  the  proposed 
modifications  to  the  extant  law  on  elemental 
education,  would  consist  in:  restricting  the  school 
attendance  permitted  by  Article  6th;  in  suppressing 
Article  yth,  which  recommends  the  free  distribu- 
tion of  food  and  clothing  among  the  pupils  so  as 
to  stimulate  their  attendance  at  school ;  in  extend- 
ing the  term  of  education  so  as  to  comprise  three 
years,  instead  of  the  two  hitherto  allowed  as 
maximum  by  Article  3d;  to  extend  also  the  pro- 
gram of  studies  prescribed  in  Article  2d,  adding 
thereto  elemental  notio?is  of  geography,  history, 
drawing,  and  the  manual  arts;  and  lastly,  in  author- 
izing the  creation  of  practical  agricultural  and 
industrial  schools,  and  also  the  establishment  of 
regional  normal  schools, ^^ 

In  order  to  be  consistent  w4th  the  contents  of 
this  book — ^w-ithout  forgetting  the  clear-cut  con- 
clusions arising  from  almost  every  page — I  shall 
now  have    to    add    to  the  program  of  popular 


150  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

instruction,  the  teaching  of  the  elementary  principles 
of  hygiene.  ^ 

The  investigation  brought  about  by  my  pam- 
phlet could  hardly  have  been  more  fruitful.  It 
brought  forth,  gratuitously  and  spontaneously, 
many  new  ideas  contained  in  numberless  letters, 
and  in  seventy  odd  serious  studies  and  reports 
confirming  in  substance  those  ideas  which  I  have 
just  set  forth,  and  diametrically  opposed  to  official 
ideas.  To  better  vouch  for  the  matter,  I  shall 
transcribe  herewith  some  of  the  opinions,  begin- 
ning with  the  very  interesting  letter,  given  in  full, 
written  me  under  date  of  August  30,  1912,  by  Mr. 
Carlos  Prieto,  a  distinguished  student,  at  that 
time  in  the  last  year  of  the  civil  engineering  course, 
and  later  on  one  of  the  bravest,  most  talented, 
and  most  honest  soldiers  of  the  revolution: 

"Dear  Master  and  Friend: 

"I  have  read  carefully  your  interesting  pam- 
phlet regarding  rudimentary  instruction  in  the 
Republic.  I  congratulate  you  upon  the  dispas- 
sionate expose  of  the  arduous  problem,  examined 
always  with  the  earnest  desire  to  get  at  the  truth, 
and  throughout  appraising  factors  at  their  just 
value.  The  matter  of  itself  is  apt  to  lead  us  to 
obvious,  and  most  sterile  platitudes  unless  handled 
with  the  utmost  discernment. 

^  It  is  proper  to  call  to  mind  in  this  connection,  that  Dr.  Eve- 
rardo  Landa,  in  his  collaborating  report  dated  July  25,  19 12, 
called  attention  to  the  need  of  making  the  said  addition  to  the 
program  of  popular  instruction. 


Improvement  of  the  People       151 

"  You  point  out,  as  the  three  sources  of  greatest 
difficulty:  the  mental  level  of  the  people  and  the 
nature  of  the  population ;  the  meagemess  of  funds 
available;  and  the  law's  shortcomings  and  delay. 
That  is  to  say,  you  cite  the  general  condition  of 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  (a  passive,  even 
negative  element),  and  the  active  economical 
and  technical  factors. 

*'The  mathematical,  or  rather  dynamic,  setting 
of  the  question  which  you  place  before  us  is 
strictly  true:  the  resultant  of  all  available  active 
media  should  be  equal  to  the  sum  of  resistances 
which  the  medium  may  oppose  to  the  application 
of  the  law.  Among  the  resistances  which  the 
medium  may  oppose  to  such  a  purpose,  there  is 
one  very  powerful,  perhaps  the  most  powerful, 
resulting  from  the  economic  state  of  our  illite- 
rate mass. 

**It  is  evident  that  the  social  strata  which  would 
be  affected  by  the  rudimentary  instruction  would 
be  in  great  part  the  rural  population  of  school  age, 
living  in  haciendas  or  on  estates  and  ranches,  and 
in  the  small  villages  of  agricultural  regions.  This 
agricultural  population  of  Mexico  makes  up 
almost  the  whole  of  our  national  proletariat,  and 
its  economic  condition  is  such,  that  it  seems  im- 
possible to  set  down  the  lines  on  which  to  educate 
them,  before  attending  to  the  problem  of  feeding 
them.  Our  country  laborer's  work,  besides  being 
miserably  paid,  is  in  demand  only  at  certain  per- 
iods of  the  year  (during  sowing  and  reaping),  and 


152  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

with  such  earnings  which  are  obtained  only  at 
certain  periods  of  the  year  he  must  needs  attend 
to  the  requirements  of  his  family — ^frequently  a 
most  numerous  one.  With  such  a  precarious 
income  the  feeding  problem  is  of  course  unsatis- 
factory; clothing  is  most  primitive;  and  instruc- 
tion and  morals,  which  are  not  indispensable  to 
the  problem  of  sheer  existence,  are  accounted  as 
of  no  value  in  a  medium  where  the  individual  physi- 
ological functions  of  assimilation  reach  limits  of 
squalor  and  want. 

"Let  us  assume  the  operation  of  the  wisest  law 
of  primary  instruction,  favored  by  the  most  liberal 
budgets,  carried  out  by  the  best  technical  ele- 
ments, with  the  schools  distributed  among  the 
agricultural  population  in  such  a  way  as  to  permit 
easy  access  on  the  part  of  the  pupils.  The  child 
will  attend  school,  always  provided  that  his  family 
can  feed  and  clothe  him,  without  having  to  use 
him  as  a  factor  in  the  problem  of  food  and  clothing 
supply.  Now  in  our  agricultural  regions  gene- 
rally, owing  to  the  rapaciousness  and  indifference 
of  the  owner,  and  the  venality  of  the  poHtical 
chief,  the  laborer  is  kept  down  in  such  a  condition 
of  poverty  that  he  finds  himself  compelled  to 
send  his  son  or  daughter  of  school  age  to  work 
in  the  fields  so  as  to  secure  the  child's  living,  and 
even  to  have  him  contribute  to  the  general  sup- 
port. On  the  estates  we  see  children  doing  nothing 
whatever  to  improve  their  minds.  Little  ones 
from  six  to  twelve  years  of  age  take  the  cattle 


Improvement  of  the  People       153 

and  sheep  to  pasture,  frighten  away  seed  hunting 
birds,  and,  in  a  word,  carry  on  whatever  tasks 
are  compatible  with  their  physical  weakness,  and 
because  of  the  scantiness  of  the  wage  they  receive 
the  owners  prefer  them  for  the  work. 

''With  such  conditions,  I  infer  that,  were  the 
law  not  to  compulsorily  enforce  attendance,  no 
one  would  go  to  school.  However,  should  the  law, 
notwithstanding  the  conditions,  and  regardless 
of  justice,  compel  the  pupils  to  attend  school, 
then  would  the  government  act  as  a  powerful 
agent  to  lower  further  the  degraded  status  of 
the  common  people,  contributing  to  their  further 
physiological  degeneration. 

''You  also  point  out  as  an  interesting  factor  in 
the  diffusion  of  instruction  '  the  emulation  brought 
out  by  the  examples  of  individual  economical 
improvement  caused  by  instruction*  recognizing 
the  enormous  importance  of  the  factor  'self- 
interest.'  But  in  our  country  at  present,  such 
examples  are  really  too  rare,  to  the  degree  of  not 
producing  emulation  among  our  illiterate  mass. 
In  our  lower  strata  all  are  treated  alike,  save  that 
those  less  ignorant  suffer  more,  for  to  their  lament- 
able condition  they  have  to  add  greater  conscious- 
ness, and  consequently  discontent. 

"I  consider  that  the  economic  condition  of  the 
rural  population  is  an  artificial  resultant  of  the 
most  unsatisfactory  distribution  of  property;  of 
the  selfishness  of  the  owner;  and  of  the  complicity 
of    the    political    and    judicial    authorities    (who 


154  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

frequently  depend  on  the  proprietor  and  are  in 
his  pay).  In  these  conditions  it  is  very  difficult 
to  instruct  or  teach  the  country  laborer,  and  even 
should  it  be  done,  he  is  not  empowered  to  struggle 
against  poverty,  because  the  land-owner  will 
continue  to  pay  his  miserable  upkeep,  and  the 
laborer  will  be  still  more  discontented  therewith. 
'It  is  impossible  to  expect  moral  education  where 
the  economic  ambient  does  not  permit  it.  Those 
who  preach  the  necessity  of  educating  the  masses 
in  order  to  better  their  economic  conditions  state 
only  half  truths.  The  diffusion  of  instruction 
benefits  in  so  far  only  as  it  makes  men  discontented 
with  their  lot,  and  prompts  them  to  discard  certain 
vices  which  sap  their  vitality  and  efficiency,  and 
thus  enables  them  to  better  master  their  destiny, 
or  to  rebel  against  it. ' 

"And  in  this  way  the  public  schools  become 
'breeding  grounds  for  discord  and  revolution* 
(Zoydes,  Poverty  and  Discontent)  ^  and  become 
'  Zapatista  factories. ' 

'  'As  long  as  the  political  action  of  a  government 
does  not  show  tendencies  towards  improving  the 
economic  welfare  of  the  masses  of  the  people, 
all  the  methods  of  intellectual  and  moral  improve- 
ment must  perforce  be  Utopian.  While  our 
proletariat  continues  in  the  present  economic 
condition,  it  will  ever  be  ready  to  follow  the  dema- 
gogical preachings  of  any  agrarian  fallacy  or 
injustice  promising  relief,  and  only  fear  and  the 
instinct  of  self-preservation  will  control  it.     We 


Improvement  of  the  People       155 

must  admit  that  the  enforced  peace  (in  Mexico 
ever  since  the  Conquest  we  never  have  had  organic 
peace)  has  produced  gratifying  profits  to  land- 
owners and  merchants,  and  in  a  lesser  degree  to 
the  middle  class,  professional  men,  employees, 
etc.,  all  of  whom  constitute  the  great  minority 
of  the  population.  The  immense  majority  has 
been  grovelling  in  poverty  which  is  really  worse 
than  legalized  slavery. 

''Revolutionary  conditions  bring,  as  a  rule,  con- 
trary consequences.  The  proletarian  who  rushes 
into  the  fray,  in  spite  of  the  struggle,  enjoys  a 
certain  amount  of  freedom  and  well-being,  since 
he  gratifies  his  needs  and  even  his  caprices,  gives 
way  to  his  revenge,  always  a  sweet  pleasure  for 
a  primitive  brain,  becoming  almost  an  esthetic 
emotion,  and  enjoys  a  carnival  of  spoliation,  assas- 
sination, and  arson.  On  the  other  hand,  dema- 
gogical pratings  and  exhortations  to  sacking,  have 
but  faint  echo  among  the  educated  who  enjoy  a 
certain  amount  of  physical  and  moral  well-being, 
as  they  are  reluctant'  to  forsake  such  benefits 
as  they  have,  to  fly  to  others  that  they  knov/  not  of. 

*'In  the  first  case,  whoever  promises  is  blindly 
followed.  The  more  he  promises  the  better.  To 
pacific  misery,  almost  elbowing  death  from  ina- 
nition, promises  of  pillage  are  most  alluring,  even 
though  they  may  imply  wading  through  blood 
and  violence.  The  present  condition  of  the  masses 
could  not  be  worse;  they  have  nothing  to  lose. 
*Zapatism'  will  continue  to  exist  so  long  as  we 


156  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

have  land  monopoly;  and  it  is  idle  to  seek  its 
origin  in  illiteracy.  Stalking  starvation  is  the 
cause. 

"But  if  it  be  resolved  to  teach  the  ignorant, 
without  previously  improving  his  miserable  eco- 
nomical condition,  nor  compelling  him  to  go  to 
school,  it  might  be  done  (I  speak  of  abstract  possi- 
bilities) by  feeding  the  child  at  the  expense  of  the 
government,  as  is  done  in  some  cases  in  this 
district.  This  would  increase  the  expenses  of 
elementary  education  from  $40,500,000  to  $121- 
000,000,  supposing  a  minimum  expense  of  ten 
cents  per  day  for  the  feeding  of  each  pupil  during 
three  hundred  days  of  the  year.  It  is  impossible 
to  have  such  a  sum  available  for  elementary  educa- 
tion, not  only  in  these  days  of  revolutionary  pil- 
lage, but  even  in  the  quiet  days  of  land  spoliation, 
since  the  amount  of  itself  exceeds  the  Republic's 
whole  budget.  Even  were  some  such  sum  avail- 
able, it  would  be  better  to  spend  it  in  improving 
the  economic  condition  of  the  mass  through  special 
channels  to  be  devised,  and  then  to  face  the  prob- 
lem of  decreasing  illiteracy.  Returning  to  the 
naechanical  statement  of  the  case,  the  sum  of  re- 
sistances would  have  greatly  diminished,  and  con- 
sequently the  equiHbriimi  sought  would  be  attained 
with  less  active  elements. 

"The  solution  which  you  propose  approaches 
to  a  great  degree  the  educational  ideal  desired, 
and  might  be  reached  after  some  years,  since  to 
establish  it  we  should  first  have  to  form  a  com- 


Improvement  of  the  People       157 

petent  teaching  staff,  practically  ^capable  of 
teaching  children  who  do  not  speak  Spanish. 

'*  Regarding  the  assertion  that  a  common  speech 
is  one  of  the  most  powerful  factors  for  instilling 
the  notion  of  love  of  country,  I  think  it  must 
of  course  be  so  in  some  countries  of  homogeneous 
population,  whose  traditions  have  been  handed 
down  from  father  to  son,  from  the  remotest 
generations,  in  the  common  speech,  vivid  and 
enfolding.  But  in  Mexico  it  has  undoubtedly  a 
lesser  importance,  since  a  great  mass  of  the  popula- 
tion is  aboriginal,  and  Spanish  is  the  language  of 
the  conquerors.  We  must  not  overlook  the  fact 
that  the  Conquest  may  have  brought  the  Indian 
the  new  faith  and  a  questionable  civilization, 
but  it  also  brought  him  more  misfortunes  than 
benefits.  The  conquered  race  lost  the  lands  it 
had  freely  cultivated,  and  its  sapient  agricultural 
communism. 

*'From  my  point  of  view  patriotism  has  two 
deep  roots,  nourished  in  a  more  or  less  homogeneous 
collectivity,  and  in  the  land  enjoying  such  aggrega- 
tion. For  the  first  we  have  the  factors  of  race, 
tradition,  customs,  language,  religion,  etc.  Patri- 
otism will  be  all  the  more  intense  when  with  such 
individual  attributes  a  more  homogeneous  col- 
lectivity is  formed.  The  land  owned  (directly 
or  indirectly)  is  the  principal  factor.  Of  course 
there  are  lands  and  nations  of  recent  inception 
where  the  constituent  elements,  ethnical,  religious, 
linguistic,  etc.,  form  a  heterogeneous  mass,  but 


15^  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

where  there  is  an  equitable  direct  or  indirect 
apportionment  of  the  land.  The  natives  v/ho 
are  ready  to  sacrifice  their  lives  in  their  country's 
defense  and  to  repel  foreign  invasion  must  be 
impelled  by  some  powerful  motive.  What  is  it? 
For  the  '  right  of  dying  of  starvation '  ?  Of  having 
no  land?  For  tradition?  For  the  mother  tongue? 
For  religion? 

"In  countries  such  as  ours,  foreign  invasions  are 
repelled  as  the  result  of  the  chivalrous  spirit  of 
a  few,  through  'virility,'  through  the  male's 
instinct  spurred  by  the  officer,  which  appears  after 
the  man  has  been  forcibly  impressed  into  service, 
the  only  method  of  raising  an  army  w^hich  has 
given  concrete  results.  Ever  since  the  Conquest 
we  have  been  infamously  exploiting  the  common 
illiterate  people.  The  peon  has  been  made  to 
fight  for  and  against  countless  revolutions,  and 
never  has  he  had  any  benefit  therefrom,  either 
for  himself  or  his  kind.  His  blood  has  been  shed, 
to  no  purpose  whatever  as  regards  his  material 
and  moral  uplift.  He  has  rather  receded  than 
advanced.  What  has  the  great  mass  of  the  com- 
mon illiterates  gained  from  the  wars  of  Independ- 
ence, from  the  Reforma,  or  from  the  Maderista 
upheaval? 

"We  have  allowed  to  ferment  within  the  race, 
the  righteous  land  hunger,  which  has  broken  out 
at  times  for  the  benefit  of  others.  Now  it  breaks 
out  in  savage  manifestations,  wherein  it  does^but 
copy  the  models  of  morality  within  reach.     We 


Improvement  of  the  People       159 

must  avoid  this  by  doing  something  tangible  to 
improve  the  material  condition  of  the  proletariat. 
'Thus'  (says  Count  de  Zoydes)  'in  the  order  of 
human  desires,  the  necessities  come  first,  and  are 
of  wider  importance.  The  desires  above  the 
animal  scale  may  originate  and  seek  gratification, 
only  when  our  common  desires,  common  to  the 
animal  kingdom,  have  been  satisfied.  And  those 
who  imagine  that  the  branch  of  philosophy  com- 
prising the  gratification  of  animal  desires,  and 
especially  the  manner  of  providing  man's  food, 
raiment,  and  habitation,  is  a  rather  low  and  ignoble 
science,  are  like  a  general  engrossed  in  the  moving 
of  his  forces,  and  recking  not  the  matter  of  food 
supply,  clothing,  or  rest,  for  his  armies  .  .  .  ' 

"I  have  unwittingly  exceeded  bounds  in  exam- 
ining one  of  the  attributes  of  the  passive  factor 
of  the  problem  of  education,  but  I  think  I  have 
demonstrated  its  enormous  resistance,  so  long  as 
the  present  abject  conditions  of  poverty  are  allowed 
to  persist.  Hence  my  conviction  that  the  active 
factors  (technical  and  economic)  would  not  be 
able  of  themselves  to  solve  the  problem. 

''Even  with  such  factors,  and  that  of  'com- 
pulsion' to  oblige  the  young  illiterate  to  receive 
education,  it  would  be  a  costly  immoral  act  to 
educate  him  so  as  to  bring  home  to  him  with 
greater  force  the  hopelessness  of  his  condition. 
Poverty  breeds  ignorance,  not  the  reverse.  A 
community  which  does  not  suffer  from  poverty 
seeks    culture    spontaneously,    from    self-interest 


i6o  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

and  vanity.  But  only  when  the  animal  wants 
have  been  provided  for  can  we  feel  this  human 
vanity,  which,  however  misguided  at  times,  is 
yet  the  secret  motive  power  of  emulations.  Self- 
love  is  necessary  to  urge,  and  reason  to  restrain. 
Such  a  combination  would  of  course  offer  the 
minimum  of  resistance  to  the  reduction  of  na- 
tional illiteracy,  following  your  general  scheme. 
Then  it  would  be  possible  to  bring  into  play  the 
active  factors,  since  the  economic  factor,  which  is 
so  essential,  could  be  obtained  by  means  of  indirect 
equitable  contribution,  which  the  community 
would  pay  into  the  state  and  which  the  state  fails 
to  receive  at  present,  because  the  great  landowner 
is  personally  diverting  all  to  his  own  profit. 

**I  consider  your  work  most  able  to  demonstrate 
the  great  difficulties  which  surroiind  the  problem 
of  extirpating  illiteracy,  showing  how  ridiculous 
is  the  sum  set  aside  by  Congress,  striving  with  so 
miserable  a  sop  to  solve  a  problem  of  proportions 
so  transcendental.  This  crucial  question,  more- 
over, had  never  been  before  brought  to  public 
notice  with  a  view  of  dealing  with  it  practically. 
It  had  been  at  times  felt  as  the  result  of  romanti- 
cism or  amateurish  sentimentality,  used  as  a 
shibboleth  by  superficial  souls  during  ephemeral 
spells  of  democratic  fanaticism. 

"In  your  modifications  to  some  articles  of  the 
law,  you  present  a  conscientious  project  for  elemen- 
tary teaching,  extending  it  to  three  years,  restrict- 
ing it  to  the  illiterates  of  school  age,  and  including 


Improvement  of  the  People       i6i 

indispensable  and  not  abstract  matters,  in  order 
to  positively  initiate  the  evolution  of  individual 
faculties,  to  improve  industrial  regional  activity, 
and  to  prepare  the  way  for  ulterior  mental  acqui- 
sitions. You  do  not  overlook  the  industries 
which  remain  to  us,  and  by  removing  their  primi- 
tive methods,  but  not  the  national  seal  and  char- 
acteristics, you  unfold  with  admirable  perception 
the  practical  tendencies  of  the  scheme. 

"Such  parts  of  your  plan  as  I  fail  to  specially 
mention  are  in  thorough  accord  with  the  results  of 
my  observation.  If  I  have  spoken  so  much  of 
the  frightful  economic  condition  of  our  agricul- 
tural mass,  it  has  been  simply  because,  in  my 
opinion,  it  is  the  greatest  stumbling  block  to 
education,  and  because  it  is  the  cause  of  our  great 
national  calamities.  If  you  did  not  especially 
dweU  on  this  all-important  factor,  I  fancy  it 
must  have  been  due  to  your  desire  to  keep  within 
the  province  of  the  Department  of  Education  and 
Fine  Arts.  Presumably  as  Assistant  Secretary 
of  Education  you  did  not  deem  it  proper  to  give 
out  an  official  opinion  which,  owing  to  its  source, 
would  serve  to  increase  further  the  well  fotmded 
discontent  of  the  agricultural  population,  since 
the  Chief  Magistrate  does  not  seem  to  wish  to 
solve  the  problem  of  starvation  through  its  natural 
channel.  He  appears  to  trust  to  the  success  of 
military  operations  which,  if  succe!::sful,  would 
destroy  only  the  symptom,  without  modifying 
the  serious  distemper  of  the  social  organism,  due 


II 


i62  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

to  the  enormous  economic  dislocation  caused  by 
land  monopoly. 

"Please  overlook  whatever  is  faulty  in  the 
style  of  this  letter.  I  have  but  wished  to  utter 
a  plain  unvarnished  tale,  and  to  contribute  my 
mite  to  your  effort. 

"Accept  my  heartiest  congratulations  for  your 
earnest  endeavors  in  the  cause  of  general  education, 
and  for  having  resigned  your  office  as  Assistant 
Secretary  in  view  of  obstacles  of  a  nature  to  render 
your  labors  less  purposeful. 

"Your  affectionate  friend, 

"C.  Prieto  R." 

From  Attomey-at-law  Rafael  del  Alba*s  com- 
munication I  extract: 

"Among  current  nonsense  we  find  the  theory 
that  a  nation's  advance  is  measured  by  the  number 
of  people  therein  knowing  how  to  read  and  write. 
It  is  irrelevant  that  what  is  read  may  be  most 
harmful,  and  that  the  writings  consist  mostly  of 
blasphemy  and  turpitudes  plastered  over  public 
places  by  the  hoi  polloi  advertising  its  knowledge. 
The  lower  classes  read,  that  seems  to  be  the  de- 
sideratum ;  they  read  salacious  novels,  newspapers 
inciting  to  crime,  and  leave  on  walls  and  public 
places  scribblings  airing  their  degradation  and 
filthy-mindedness.  It  seems  to  have  no  import- 
ance that  the  said  classes  are  poorly  fed,  that 
they  never  wash,  that  they  fail  to  work.  It  will 
appear  odd  that  some  other  people  not  knowing 


Improvement  of  the  People       163 

perhaps  how  to  read  or  write,  listen  with  interest 
and  discernment  to  descriptions  of  journeys, 
reports  on  improvement  of  cultivations,  on  the 
works  of  the  region,  and  that  they  may  dictate 
to  the  school  teacher  or  the  priest  letters  in 
which  are  revealed  honest  sentiments  and  high 
thoughts. 

"An  author  of  works  of  scientific  generalization, 
who  thinks  and  speaks  clearly,  says  in  this  regard : 
*  Regarding  primary  education  the  author  is  not 
in  accord  with  the  significance  usually  attributed 
to  the  figures.  It  is  not  possible  to  measure  the 
culture  of  a  country  by  the  number  of  individuals 
who  know  how  to  read  and  write.  It  is  of  no 
importance  if  you  know  how  to  read  and  write, 
if  you  do  not  read  and  write,  or  if  what  you  read 
lacks  all  intellectual  value.  Let  us  imagine  two 
countries,  each  one  with  the  same  number  of 
inhabitants :  in  the  first  one,  all  know  how  to  read 
and  write,  but  the  books  sold  at  the  end  of  the 
year  amount  to  five  thousand  indecent  novels 
and  two  hundred  scientific  works;  in  the  second 
one,  half  of  the  population  is  illiterate,  but  the 
other  half  buys  yearly  five  thousand  scientific 
works  and  two  hundred  indecent  novels.  Doubt- 
less, in  these  two  countries,  the  one  possessing 
the  greatest  number  of  illiterates  has  nevertheless 
the  highest  culture.  The  number  of  public  libra- 
ries in  a  place  is  not  a  sure  sign  of  culture.  In 
most  of  them  are  many  dead  works.  We  may 
say  the  same  of  a  great  mass  of  newspapers  and 


i64  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

periodicals,  honey-combed  with  dry  rot.  A  single 
scientific  review  shows  the  existence  of  more  real 
culture  than  fifty  magazines  devoted  to  bloody 
and  sensational  narrations/  (Emilio  del  Villar, 
The  Spanish-American  Republics.) 

"It  is  true  that  del  Villar,  following  the  doc- 
trines of  Cordelier,  scoffs  at  the  famous  coef- 
ficients of  marriage,  legitimacy  in  births,  etc.,  on 
which  the  framers  of  statistics  lay  so  much  stress. 

"I  remember,  in  connection  with  this  cult  for 
the  sublime  science  of  interpreting  printed  signs, 
what  Mr.  Vigil  used  to  say  to  me.  Mr.  Vigil, 
during  the  last  years  of  his  life,  possessed  a  per^ 
fectly  clear  intelligence;  he  never  showed  the 
faintest  kind  of  decadence,  having  a  most  serene 
judgment,  seeing  all  as  though  from  some  emi- 
nence; he  was  cautious  of  pitfalls  and  snares,  and 
public  shibboleths,  knowing  that  he  would  soon 
forsake  for  ever  all  things  of  the  earth;  in  short 
he  was  endowed  with  an  Augustan  serenity  and 
clearness  of  vision  reminding  one  of  the  highest 
examples  of  the  Greek  philosophers.  Mr.  Vigil, 
without  attributing  to  the  almost  diabolical  art 
of  reading  and  that  of  writing,  a  very  great  influ- 
ence in  the  daily  increasing  unhappiness,  under- 
stood that  this  misery  proceeds  perhaps  from  the 
fact  that  all  in  our  sordid  life  is  conventional,  and 
is  based  on  the  lies  and  prejudices  which  our  reason 
and  our  conscience  reject,  but  which  through 
habit  of  cowardice  we  still  revere.  He  did  not 
believe  in  the  value  of  merely  knowing  the  signi- 


Improvement  of  the  People       165 

ficance  of  letters  as  an  element  of  the  progress 
and  culture  of  a  people,  nor  did  he  attribute  to 
the  numbers  of  knowers  of  the  alphabet  the 
importance  which  they  are  apt  to  receive  .  .  ." 

Lawyer  Ezequiel  A.  Chavez,  Assistant  Secre- 
tary of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts,  since 
the  creation  of  this  State  Department,  up  to  a 
few  months  before  the  fall  of  General  Diazes  govern- 
ment, in  his  Notes  makes  some  noteworthy  remarks 
on  my  pamphlet,  as  follows : 

"John  Dewey,  the  eminent  educationist  of  the 
University  of  Chicago,  sums  up  the  central  idea 
as  to  what  education  really  is,  considering  it  as 
'the  sum  total  of  processes  through  which  a 
community  or  a  social  group,  small  or  large, 
transmits  its  acquired  power  and  purpose,  in 
order  to  ensure  its  own  existence  and  development.' 
'To  make  clear  the  need  of  education,'  he  says, 
'all  the  members  already  composing  society  must 
die,  and  consequently  the  conservation  of  the 
same  society  depends  upon  the  education  of  its 
new  members,  so  that  they  may  assume  the 
functions  of  this  society,  and  uphold  what  it  may 
have  of  value. ' 

"Therefore,  to  prepare  the  new  generations 
that  they  may  adapt  themselves  to  social  life; 
to  place  them  in  possession  of  the  inheritance  of 
progress,  organization,  and  life,  which  the  cen- 
turies have  been  accumulating;  to  render  them 
capable  of  utilizing  well  the  said  inheritance,  of 


i66  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

preserving  it  intact,  and  of  increasing  and  improv- 
ing it,  is  the  most  important  question.  It  is 
what  we  must  do,  if  we  do  not  wish  to  see  our 
organization  annihilated  by  the  new  members 
and  cause  the  destruction  of  the  very  germs  of 
collective  Hfe. 

"The  most  important  problem  for  every  people, 
not  only  for  the  Mexican  people,  consists,  therefore, 
and  will  always  consist,  not  in  establishing  ele- 
mentary schools,  but  in  imparting  to  all  the  chil- 
dren of  that  people  such  an  education  that  through 
it  they  may  be  really  placed  in  possession  of  the 
inheritance  of  culture  and  advancement  be- 
queathed by  predecessors;  so  that  the  children 
in  turn  may  bequeath  it  to  their  descendants, 
improved  as  far  as  possible.  Only  in  this  way 
do  the  people  thrive  on  the  roll  of  nations;  and 
only  thus  do  they  constantly  progress.  There 
is  nothing  therefore  more  important,  nor  more 
difficult,  nor  of  greater  urgency. 

"But  if  the  elementary  or  rudimentary  schools, 
such  as  were  prescribed  by  the  law  of  June  I,  191 1 , 
do  not  place  the  people  in  possession  of  their 
inheritance  of  culture,  because  they  do  not  educate 
them,  nor  think  of  educating  them;  if  they  are 
schools  of  simple  instruction — that  is,  of  mere 
transmission  of  subjects,  such  as  speaking,  reading, 
and  reckoning,  or  what  Elliott  calls  the  simple 
tools  of  education,  but  not  education  itself — then 
we  find  that  the  elementary  schools  are  not  calcu- 
lated to  transmit  to  future  generations,  the  power 


Improvement  of  the  People       167 

acquired  by  the  Republic  in  order  to  live,  nor  its 
purposes ;  neither  can  they  ensure  autonomic  exist- 
ence, and  the  development  of  Mexican  society. 

^'It  is  only  too  true  that  nowhere  are  schools 
the  sole  agents  of  education;  but  it  is  also  true 
that  they  must  be  the  most  important  agents  of 
education  in  a  society  such  as  ours,  where  the 
social  medium  is  poisoned  by  secular  envy  and 
hatred,  by  the  contempt  and  contumely  of  genera- 
tions; a  society  wherein  demagogues  can  from 
time  to  time  by  fanning  rancor  and  envy  among 
the  lower  strata  cause  them  to  assail  the  upper 
classes;  where  these  assume  aloofness  and  a  de- 
tached contempt  and  the  chasms  widen  with  time ; 
a  society  where  humble  homes  go  to  pieces  under 
poverty,  vice,  the  bitterness  of  misfortune  and 
the  general  shiftiness  of  conditions;  where  left  to 
itself,  without  educators,  it  is  in  peril  of  falling 
deeper  in  the  slough  of  dissolution,  and  of  finally 
perishing  in  horrible  convulsions,  like  those  mon- 
strous beings,  planaria  torva  bicephalos  of  the 
laboratory,  which  when  developed  artificially,  as 
was  done  by  Dr.  Van  Duyne,  and  placed  with 
their  heads  in  opposite  directions,  exercised  such 
a  strain  with  each  head  that  the  animal  ended 
by  tearing  up  its  own  body. 

**The  school  has,  therefore,  in  societies  such  as 
ours,  the  most  difficult  mission.  It  must  teach 
the  powerful  to  understand  and  love  and  serve 
the  humble;  it  must  teach  the  humble  to  under- 
stand, love,  and  serve  the  powerful.'* 


i68  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

But  Mr.  Chavez  goes  farther  still.  In  the 
pamphlet  which  brought  out  the  preceding  re- 
marks I  stated  that  the  teaching  given  out  by 
the  schools  in  question,  because  of  its  rudimentary 
and  abstract  character,  might  be  useless  or  harmful, 
Mr.  Chavez  comes  out  clearly,  and  affirms  that 
the  said  teaching  must  necessarily  be  useless  and 
noxious:  "It  will  not  be  noxious  for  those  who 
live  in  the  small  isles  of  wholesome  ambient  me- 
dium, which  fortunately  exist  in  the  country; 
it  will  not  be  useless  for  the  few  individuals  who 
can  practice  it;  but  this  will  not  easily  happen, 
since,  as  Mr.  Pani  affirms,  it  is  absurd  to  imagine 
that  such  schools  can  develop  their  program  in 
two  years,  since  the  majority  of  the  other  schools^ 
though  some  of  them  are  excellent  in  many  respects, 
cannot  teach  correctly,  nor  ensure  the  ulterior 
practice  of  the  most  useful  art  of  reading,  save  in  a 
period  exceeding  two  years,^^ 

And  after  commenting  on  other  portions  of  my 
pamphlet,  Mr.  Chavez  concludes: 

"...  For  the  good  of  the  Republic  it  must 
be  hoped  that,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  law  es- 
tablishing rudimentary  schools  be  adequately 
amended." 

From  a  conscientious  study  made  by  Architect 
Federico  Mariscal — commissioned  to  do  so  by 
the  Athenaeum  of  Mexico — I  extract  the  following 
significant  passage: 

"For  further  proof,  we  could  cite  what  happened 


Improvement  of  the  People       169 

in  Italy.  In  Calabria,  schools  of  the  rudimentary 
type  were  established,  of  the  very  kind  which  you 
so  wisely  condemn,  and,  as  a  consequence,  after 
a  certain  time,  there  was  a  great  increase  in 
criminality." 

This  work  would  have  no  end  if  I  tried  to  include 
therein  all  the  opinions  against  the  wild  plan  of 
rudimentary  schools,  which  were  made  a  part  of 
our  institutions  by  decree  of  June  i,  191 1,  and 
which  can  only  be  explained  away  by  the  haste 
with  which  the  tottering  government  of  Don 
Foriirio  was  compelled  to  throw  sand  in  the  eyes 
of  the  people,  pretending  to  have,  in  its  agonizing 
efforts  at  self-preservation,  the  same  aspirations 
as  had  been  proclaimed  by  the  revolution  which 
overthrew  it  after  a  few  days. 

But  what  is  more  difficult  to  understand  is 
why  the  following  chiefs  of  education,  Messrs. 
Pino  Suarez,  and  Diaz  Lombardo,  should  have 
fathered  the  project  with  great  concern.  They 
almost  consumed  the  allotments  assigned  by 
Congress,  in  organizing  the  Ministerial  Section 
which  had  to  direct  and  manage  the  correspond- 
ing service — which  did  not  exist, — in  journeys  of 
the  so-called  installators  of  the  schools  throughout 
the  wildest  and  most  remote  regions  of  the  coun- 
try, and  in  school  furniture.  However,  only  a 
few  schools  were  finally  organized  and  operated, 
and  under  most  scanty  and  inadequate  conditions. 

And,  what  is  even  more  astonishing — since  by 


170  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Economic 

that  time  the  adverse  opinions  were  many  and 
weighty — as  soon  as  Lawyer  Vera  Estanol  re- 
turned to  the  Department  of  Public  Education, 
through  the  overthrow  of  the  legal  government, 
Congress  was  required  to  authorize  the  increase 
of  the  number  of  rudimentary  schools  to  five 
thousand,  with  an  allotment  of  four  and  one  half 
milHons  of  pesos  per  year.  "By  establivshing 
many  schools,"  says  the  Law-Project,  "in  the 
greatest  possible  number  of  places  where  ignorance 
has  hitherto  been  densest,  and  organizing  them 
with  programs  of  elementary  studies,  just  sufficient 
to  awaken  by  the  light  of  the  alphabet  and  numbers 
the  millions  of  souls  who  sleep  in  the  darkness  of 
rankest  ignorance,"  the  Minister  felt  certain  that 
he  could  guarantee  the  future  redemption  of  the 
nation,  "preparing  the  children  for  their  subse- 
quent duties  in  a  nation  such  as  ours  which  has 
such  marked  democratic  aspirations,  and  placing 
the  adults  in  condition  to  cast  their  votes  at  the 
ballots  with  the  required  conditions  of  under- 
standing and  altruism." 

Many  were  the  cynics — of  whom  our  corrupt 
environment  breeds  an  abundant  crop — who 
ascribed  this  absurd  pertinacity  to  the  political 
interest  of  controlHng  the  votes  of  the  new  teachers 
at  the  next  presidential  elections.  I  will  stoop 
to  no  further  comments. 

A  few  more  words  before  closing. 

The  mere  expression  of  ideas  generated  by  the 


Improvement  of  the  People       171 

study  of  the  conditions  of  the  Hfe  of  our  people 
was  a  sort  of  materialization  which  carried  them, 
through  their  own  weight  and  almost  without 
effort,  to  a  condensation  in  the  various  partial 
conclusions  which  I  have  pointed  out  in  each  of 
the  chapters  which  make  up  this  vast  exposition. 
In  the  same  way,  if  we  glance  through  such  an 
exposition  of  facts,  of  ideas,  and  of  conclusions 
— though  they  may  not  be  conserved  in  the 
memory — it  will  not  be  possible  to  resist  the  na- 
tural impulse,  of  almost  unconscious  reflection, 
of  grouping  it  all,  and  of  concentrating  it  in  one 
channel,  so  as  to  decide,  before  closing  this  book, 
that : 

The  true  problem  of  Mexico  consists^  therefore^ 
in  hygienizing  the  population,  physically  and  morally, 
and  in  endeavoring,  by  all  available  means,  to  im- 
prove  the  precarious  economical  situation  of  our 
proletariat. 

It  must  be  fully  realized  that  the  solution  of 
the  part  of  this  problem  which  concerns  the  De- 
partment of  Education  and  the  municipalities 
lies  in  establishing  and  maintaining  the  greatest 
possible  number  of  schools;  to  do  which  their  cost 
must  be  reduced  by  means  of  a  rational  simplifica- 
tion of  the  organization  and  of  the  school  curriculum. 
This  must  be  done  without  reaching  the  pedagogic 
poverty  of  rudimentary  instruction,  and  without 
losing  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  essential  requirements 
are:  technological  teaching  to  co-operate,  with  all 
the  other  organs  of  the  government,  in  the  work 


172  Moral  Improvement  of  the  People 

of  economic  improvement  of  the  masses,  and, 
diffusion  of  the  elemental  principles  of  hygiene,  as 
an  efiScient  protection  for  the  race. 

And,  finally,  as  the  medium  constitutes  an 
educational  factor  more  powerful  than  the  schools 
themselves,  the  country  must,  before  and  above  all, 
organize  its  public  administration  upon  a  basis  of 
absolute  morality. 


Appendices 


173 


NO.  I 

THE  CONSTITUTIONALIST  GOVERNMENT  CONFRONTED 
WITH  THE  SANITARY  AND  EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS 
OF  MEXICO 


Address  Delivered  by  Alberto  J.  Pani,  C.E.,  to  the  Mem- 
bers of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and 
Social  Science  and  of  the  Pennsylvania  Arbitration 
and  Peace  Society,  in  ''Wither spoon  Hall,'* 
Philadelphia,  Penn.,  U.  S.A.,on  Friday  Evening, 
November  lo,  igi6, 

Mr.  Chairman, 

Members  of  the  Academy  and  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Arbitration  and  Peace  Society, 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

During  the  most  acute  and  violent  period  of  an 
armed  revolution — a  veritable  chaos  in  which  it 
would  seem  that  the  people,  after  destroying  every- 
thing, try  to  commit  suicide  in  a  body — the  news  of 
isolated  cases,  however  horrible  they  may  be,  cease 
to  cause  a  deep  impression,  before  the  awfulness  of  the 
general  catastrophe.  As  the  struggle  reaches  some 
form  of  organization  by  the  grouping  of  men  around 

175 


176  Appendices 

the  various  nuclei  representing  the  antagonistic 
principles  in  action,  individuals  grow  in  importance 
until  the  nucleus  which  best  interpreted  the  ambitions 
and  wants  of  the  people  acquires  absolute  ascendancy. 
Then  this  group  is  unreasonably  expected  to  strictly 
fulfill  all  the  obligations  usually  incumbent  upon  a 
government  duly  constituted.  The  sensations  then 
provoked  by  the  news  of  isolated  cases  of  misfortunes 
suffered  by  individuals,  because  of  their  very  rarity, 
cause  greater  consternation. 

This  is  precisely  V\^hat  is  occurring  with  the  present 
Mexican  Government.  Take  any  two  dates  from 
the  beginning  of  its  organization.  Compare  dispas- 
sionately the  relative  conditions  of  national  life,  and 
it  will  be  necessary  to  admit  that  the  country  is 
rapidly  returning  to  normal  political  and  social  con- 
ditions. It  is  also  undeniable  that  the  temporary 
interruption  of  a  line  of  communication,  or  the  attack 
on  a  train  or  village  by  rebels  or  outlaws,  now  causes 
an  exaggerated  impression,  people  forgetting  that,  not 
so  long  ago,  the  greater  part  of  the  railway  lines,  or 
the  cities  of  the  Republic,  were  in  the  hands  of  said 
rebels  or  outlaws,  and  that  in  the  very  territory  domi- 
nated by  the  Constitutionalist  Government  trains 
and  towns  were  but  too  frequently  assaulted. 

But  it  is  inconceivable  to  try  to  make  the  present 
Government  responsible  for  the  transgressions  of 
its  predecessors.  The  revolution  itself  is  a  natural 
consequence  of  these  faults.  Former  governments 
who  knew  not  how  to  prevent  the  revolution  are 
responsible  for  the  evils  which  it  may  have  brought 
in  its  train,  and  should  the  nation  be  saved,  as  it  shall 
be,  it  will  be  due  solely  to  the  citizens  who  have  been 
willing  to  sacrifice  themselves.     In  truth  it  is  only 


Appendices  177 

through  personal  sacrifices  that  it  is  possible  to  con- 
struct a  true  fatherland. 

The  enemies  of  the  new  regime — irreconcilable  be- 
cause they  will  not  accept  the  sacrifices  imposed — 
are  now  burning  their  last  cartridges,  making  the 
Constitutionalist  Government  responsible  for  many 
of  the  calamities  which  caused  the  revolution,  and 
which  the  Government,  impelled  by  the  generous  im- 
pulse which  generated  it,  purposes  to  remedy.  Thus 
do  we  explain  the  protests  of  the  discontented,  and  the 
monstrosity  that  said  protests  are  even  more  energetic 
and  loud  when  they  defend  money  than  when  they 
defend  life  itself. 

The  theme  of  this  night*s  address  refers  to  one  of 
these  calamities,  a  shameful  legacy  of  the  past. 
Inimical  interests  are  trying  to  attack  the  Constitu- 
tionalist Government  on  this  score,  though  it  is  the 
first  Government  in  Mexico  which  has  tried  to  remedy 
this  evil.  Having  been  appointed  by  the  First  Chief 
in  charge  of  the  executive  power  of  Mexico,  Mr. 
Carranza,  to  make  the  study  of  the  problem,  I  would 
only  have  to  summarize  or  copy,  in  order  to  develop 
such  theme,  some  fragments  of  the  corresponding 
report. 

"One  of  the  most  imperative  obligations  that 
civilization  imposes  upon  the  State  is  to  duly  protect 
human  life,  to  permit  the  growth  of  society.  It 
becomes  necessary  to  make  known  the  precepts  of 
private  hygiene  and  to  put  them  in  practice,  and  to 
enforce  the  precepts  of  public  hygiene.  For  the  first, 
there  is  the  school  as  an  excellent  organ  of  propaganda. 
For  the  second,  with  more  direct  bearing  on  healthful- 
ness,  there  are  principally  special  establishments  to 
la 


178  Appendices 

heal,  to  disinfect,  to  take  prophylactic  measures. 
Then  there  are  engineering  works,  laws  and  regulations 
put  in  force  by  a  technical  personnel,  or  by  an  ad- 
ministrative or  police  corps.  It  may  therefore  he  said, 
without  exaggeration,  that  there  is  a  necessary  relation  of 
direct  proportion  between  the  sum  of  civilization  acquired 
by  a  country,  and  the  degree  of  perfection  attained  by  its 
sanitary  organization . '  * 

The  activities,  in  this  respect,  of  General  Diaz's 
Government,  during  the  thirty-odd  years  of  enforced 
peace  and  of  apparent  material  well-being,  were 
devoted  almost  exclusively  to  works  to  gratify  the 
love  of  ostentation  or  peculation.  Seldom  were  they 
devoted  to  the  true  needs  of  the  country.  There 
were  erected  magnificent  buildings.  To  build  the 
National  Theater  and  Capitol,  both  unfinished,  it  was 
planned  to  spend  sixty  millions  of  pesos.  When  it 
was  a  case  of  executing  works  of  public  utility,  their 
construction  was  made  subservient  to  the  illicit  ends 
pointed  out.  Thus,  for  example,  the  works  of  city 
improvement,  never  finished,  not  even  in  the  Capitol, 
in  spite  of  the  conditions  of  notorious  unhealthfulness 
of  some  important  towns,  were  always  begun  with 
elegant  and  costly  asphalt  pavements,  which  it 
became  necessary  to  destroy  and  replace,  whenever  a 
water  or  drainage  pipe  had  to  be  laid.  The  work  of 
education  undertaken  by  the  Government  was  chiefly 
dedicated  to  erecting  costly  buildings  for  schools; 
it  is  only  in  this  way,  therefore,  that  we  can  realize 
that  the  proportion  of  persons  knowing  how  to  read 
and  write  is  barely  30%  of  the  total  population  in  the 
Republic. 

The  net  result  of  what  was  done  in  these  respects 
during    the    long    administration    of    General    Diaz 


Appendices  179 

could  not  be  more  disastrous.  If  we  take  the  average 
of  mortality  for  the  nine  years  from  1904  to  191 2,  the 
heyday  of  that  administration,  we  find  that  in  Mexico 
City,  where  the  greatest  sum  of  culture  and  material 
progress  is  to  be  found,  there  is  a  rate  of  mortality  of 
42.J  deaths  for  each  one  thousand  inhabitants.  That 
is  to  say : 

/. — It  is  nearly  three  times  that  prevailing  in  American 
cities  of  similar  density  {16.1) ; 

II. — Nearly  two  and  one  half  times  larger  than  the 
average  coefficient  of  mortality  of  comparable  European 
cities  {17.53)  '■>  ^'Hd 

III. — Greater  than  the  coefficient  of  mortality  of 
the  Asiatic  and  African  cities  of  Madras  and  Cairo 
(39.51  and  40.15  respectively),  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  in  the  former  cholera  morbus  is  endemic. 

The  annual  average,  corresponding  to  the  same 
period,  of  deaths  in  the  City  of  Mexico  due  to  avoidable 
disease,  if  proper  care  for  private  and  public  hygiene 
be  taken — an  arraignment  against  the  administration 
of  General  Diaz — reaches  more  than  11,500  deaths. 
Now  as  the  deaths  occasioned  by  the  Revolution 
during  the  six  years  surely  do  not  reach  70,000,  then 
we  find  that  the  Government  of  General  Diaz — so 
greatly  eulogized — in  the  midst  of  peace  and  prosperity 
did  not  kill  fewer  people  than  a  formidable  revolution 
which  set  afire  the  whole  Republic,  and  horrified  the 
whole  world. 

But  the  truth  is  that  General  Diaz's  Government 
did  not  recognize  the  formula  of  integral  progress — 
the  only  one  which  truly  ennobles  humanity — and 
wasted  its  energies  in  showy  manifestations  of  a 
progress  purely  material  and  fictitious,  with  the  inevi- 
table train  of  vice  and  corruption.     The  ostentatious 


i8o  Appendices 

pageant— the  most  shameless  lie  with  which  it  has 
ever  been  attempted  to  deceive  the  world — which 
celebrated  the  anniversary  of  National  Independence 
took  place  exactly  a  few  weeks  prior  to  the  popular 
Revolution  of  1910,  before  whose  onrush  the  Govern- 
ment fell  like  a  house  of  cards. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  Constitutionalist  Govern- 
ment. In  its  banner  it  has  written  the  resolve  to 
better  the  condition  of  life  of  the  people,  socially  and 
individually,  and  its  sincerity  and  energy  may  be  seen 
not  only  in  the  words  but  in  deeds. 

The  Constitutionalist  Government,  during  its  so- 
journ at  Vera  Cruz  at  the  close  of  19 14  and  the  begin- 
ning and  middle  of  191 5,  while  the  army  reconquered 
the  territory  of  the  Republic,  at  first  almost  wholly 
in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  in  spite  of  being  engaged 
in  the  most  active  campaign  in  the  annals  of  Mexican 
history,  still  found  time  to  take  up  the  efficient 
political  and  administrative  reorganization  of  the 
country. 

"Whoever  may  know  something  of  our  history,  and 
may  view  with  impartiality  the  long  and  complicated 
process  of  formation  of  our  nationality,  from  the  pre- 
Cortes  period,  through  the  troublous  time  of  the 
Conquest,  colonial  days  under  the  viceroys,  the  wars 
of  Independence,  the  convulsions  only  calmed  by  the 
iron  hand  of  Diaz,  of  nearly  one  century  of  autonomous 
existence,  until  our  own  time,  will  be  bound  to  dis- 
cover, in  the  salient  manifestations  of  the  life  of  the 
national  organism,  the  unequivocal  symptoms  and 
stigmata  of  a  serious  pathological  state,  brought  about 
by  two  principal  agents :     The  loathsome  corruption  of 


Appendices  i8i 

the  upper  classes,  and  the  inconscience  and  wretched' 
ness  of  the  lower.  ... 

"The  iniquitous  means  used  by  Don  Porfirio  Diaz 
to  impose  peace,  during  more  than  thirty  years,  not 
only  annulled  all  efforts  tending  to  remedy  the  evils 
discussed,  but  rather  determined  their  greater  inten- 
sity. As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  satisfied  the  omnivorous 
appetites  of  his  friends  and  satellites;  it  crushed  and 
caused  the  criminal  disappearance  of  whoever  failed 
to  render  tribute  or  bow  to  his  will ;  it  fostered  cowards 
and  sycophants,  repressing  systematically  and  with  an 
iron  hand  every  impulse  of  manliness  and  truth.  It 
placed  the  administration  of  justice  at  the  uncondi- 
tional disposal  of  the  rich,  paying  not  the  slightest 
heed  to  the  lamentations  of  the  poor.  In  a  word  it 
increased  the  immorality  and  corruption  of  the  small 
and  privileged  ruling  class  and  increased  in  conse- 
quence the  sufferings  of  the  immense  majority,  grovel- 
ling in  ignorance  and  hunger.  Therefore,  the  thirty 
or  more  years  of  pr£etorian  peace  but  served  to  deepen 
still  further  the  secular  chasm  of  hatred  and  rancor 
separating  the  two  classes  mentioned,  and  to  provoke 
necessarily  and  fatally  the  social  convulsion,  begun 
in  1910,  and  which  has  shaken  the  whole  country." 

The  three  aspects  of  the  problem  which  I  have 
presented — the  economic,  intellectual,  and  moral — 
coincide  with  the  purposes  of  education  through 
schools,  as  ideally  dreamed  of  by  thinkers,  that  is  as 
^'institutions  whose  object  is  to  guide  and  control  the 
formation  of  habits  to  realize  the  highest  social  good.^* 
But  our  schools,  unfortunately,  have  not  yet  acquired 
the  necessary  strength  to  assuage,  in  an  appreciable 
degree,  the  horrible  ambient  immorality,  or  to  counter- 
weigh its  inevitable  effects  of  social  dissolution. 


1 82  Appendices 

*'The  true  problem  of  Mexico  consists  therefore  in 
hygienizing  the  population  physically  and  morally^ 
and  to  endeavor  to  find,  through  all  means  available, 
an  improvement  in  the  precarious  economical  situation 
of  our  proletariat.  .  ,  . 

"The  part  of  the  solution  of  the  problem  which 
corresponds  to  the  Department  of  Education  or  to  the 
municipalities  must  be  realized,  establishing  and 
maintaining  the  greatest  possible  number  of  schools, 
to  do  which,  their  cost  must  be  reduced  by  means  of 
a  rational  simplification  of  organization  and  of  school 
programs.  This  must  be  done  without  losing  sight 
of  the  fact  that  its  preferential  orientations  should  be 
marked  by:  the  character — essentially  technological — of 
the  teaching,  to  cooperate  with  all  the  other  organs  of  the 
Government  in  the  work  of  economical  improvement 
of  the  masses,  and,  through  the  diffusion  of  the  elemental 
principles  of  hygiene,  as  an  efficient  protection  for 
the  race. 

"And  as,  finally,  the  medium  does  constitute  an 
educational  factor  more  powerful  than  the  schools 
themselves,  the  country  must,  before  and  above  all, 
organize  its  public  administration  upon  a  basis  of 
absolute  morality.^* 

To  come  to  a  conclusion,  restricting  myself  to  the 
pu;rpose  of  this  address,  it  will  suffice  to  say  that, 
when  the  Constitutionalist  Government  ruled  but 
an  insignificant  portion  of  the  country,  there  were  yet 
sent  to  the  principal  centers  of  culture  of  the  United 
States  several  hundred  teachers  to  investigate  and 
secure  data  to  reform  school  matters  in  Mexico.  This 
was  dpne  at  a  time  when  dollars  were  of  great  import- 
ance for  the  purchase  of  war  material. 


Appendices  183 

Subsequently,  in  spite  of  the  countless  obstacles 
which  seemed  to  obstruct  every  step  of  the  Govern- 
ment, the  number  of  schools  has  been  greatly  increased. 
It  is  now  much  greater  than  it  was  before  the  Revolu- 
tion: in  some  states  it  has  been  doubled.  There  have 
been  effected,  besides,  important  works  of  city  im- 
provement in  Mexico,  Saltillo,  Queretaro,  Vera  Cruz, 
etc.,  and  the  mouth  of  Panuco  River  is  about  to  be 
dredged.  It  has  been  specified  in  the  respective  con- 
tract that  the  soil  taken  out  is  to  be  used  to  fill  in  the 
marshy  zone  around  Tampico,  thus  eliminating  the 
chief  cause  of  this  city's  unhealthfulness. 

In  short,  in  order  that  the  Government  which 
has  arisen  from  the  Constitutionalist  Revolution  may 
realize  its  program  of  public  betterment,  which 
implies  the  physical  and  moral  hygienizing  of  Mexico, 
it  is  only  necessary  to  give  it  time.  Only  some  magic 
art  could  transform  in  a  moment  a  group  of  human 
beings  into  an  angel  choir,  or  a  piece  of  land  into  a 
Paradise. 


NO.  II 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  PERTAINING  TO  MORTALITY 

Charts  Nos.  i,  5,  and  j 

BOARD  OF  HEALTH  OF  MEXICO 

THIS  office  fiimished  me  with  the  coefficient  of 
mortality  of  the  City  of  Mexico  to  be  found  in 
Charts  i  and  2  (42.3),  obtained  from  the  deaths  in  the 
city  registered  by  the  same  Board  for  the  year  1911 
(19,956  deaths),  and  from  the  population  assigned  to 
all  the  municipality  by  the  census  of  1910  (471,066 
inhabitants) . 

I  believe  there  exists  an  error  in  the  calculation 
made  by  the  Board  of  Health.  The  reports  of  the 
work  done  by  this  Board  in  191 1  give  for  the  whole 
municipality  of  Mexico — as  is  set  down  in  synoptical 
table  of  page  37 — a  mortality  of  21,680  deaths;  the 
relative  coefficient,  the  population  being  471,066 
inhabitants,  is  consequently  46.02.  Now  as  the 
population  of  the  municipality  decreases  rapidly 
from  the  center  to  the  periphery,  that  is  to  say  from 
the  city  properly  so  called  to  the  ranches  and  sparsely 
populated  regions  surrounding  the  center,  and  as  the 
law  of  proportion  between  mortality  and  density  is 
fully  confirmed  in  the  said  synopsis  table,  it  is  not 
conceivable  that  the  coefficient  of  mortality  for  the  City 

184 


Appendices  185 

of  Mexico  is  42.3,  or  that  it  is  inferior  to  the  death  rate 
for  the  whole  municipality ,  which  is  46.02, 

I  do  not  know  how  the  Board  of  Health  overcame 
the  difficulty  of  restricting  with  precision  the  perime- 
ter of  the  city;  but  if  it  did  so  with  the  death  rate 
it  must  also  have  done  so  with  the  figure  for  the 
population :  it  would  then  have  secured  a  much  higher 
coefficient.  Still,  in  tables  i  and  2,  I  adopted  the 
figures  furnished  by  the  Board  for  the  reasons  which 
I  will  here  set  forth.  The  data  which  serve  to  obtain 
the  coefficient  of  mortality — annual  number  of  deaths 
and  population — have  not  the  same  degree  of  approxi- 
mation, because  of  the  different  manner  in  which 
they  are  obtained.  The  register  of  deaths,  through 
the  number  of  burials  and  incinerations  or  cremations, 
is  practically  exact,  whereas  the  census  operations, 
so  difficult  in  countries  so  backward  as  ours,  always 
give  results  which  understate.  The  correction  which 
owing  to  this  should  be  made  to  the  coefficient — 
inversely  proportional  to  the  population — would 
consequently  be  contrary  to  that  incurred  by  the 
Board  of  Health;  though  both  errors  should  not 
compensate  each  other,  leaving  the  coefficient  of 
mortality  less  than  the  true,  but  probably  larger 
than  that  furnished  by  the  Board;  the  value  given 
by  the  latter  served  for  the  purposes  of  the  tables 
mentioned,  and  the  considerations  which  precede 
serve  to  strengthen  the  conclusions  deducted  there- 
from. 

The  coefficients  of  mortality  for  the  City  of  Mexico 
— to  be  seen  in  table  No.  3 — for  1895  to  1912,  were 
figured  taking  the  death  rates  for  each  of  these  years 
— furnished  by  the  same  Board — and  of  those  refer- 
ring to  population,  according  to  the  three  sole  census 


1 86  Appendices 

operations  made  in  all  that  time:  in  1895,  in  1900, 
and  in  1910.  It  seemed  to  me  rational,  instead  of 
calculating  the  coefficients  solely  with  the  three  afore- 
said data  of  population,  to  secure  the  probable  figures 
relative  to  the  fifteen  remaining  years,  supposing 
that  the  variations  of  said  population  should  restrict 
themselves  to  a  certain  continuity,  according  to 
arithmetical  progression,  in  the  spaces  of  time  included 
between  the  three  only  years  when  data  were  taken, 

PUBLIC   HEALTH  REPORTS 

Of  this  Bulletin  published  in  Washington,  U.  S.  A., 
— ^in  accordance  with  Act  of  Congress  of  February 
15,  1893 — by  the  Public  Health  and  Marine  Hospital 
Service,  I  took  all  the  data  of  weekly  deaths  therein 
contained,  referring  to  sixteen  of  the  cities  included 
in  tables  i  and  2,  data  which  I  give  in  the  table 
annexed  herewith. 

As  in  the  said  Bulletin  there  were  missing  the 
figures  pertaining  to  very  few  weeks,  I  furnished  these 
figures  for  each  city,  with  the  averages  of  all  those 
corresponding  to  the  other  weeks  of  191 1.  Thus  the 
coefficient  of  mortality  for  Montreal  was  secured  thus : 

The  total  of  deaths  in  fifty  weeks — all  that  was 
furnished  by  Bulletin — is  8804;  the  average  of  weekly 

deaths  in  that  time  is  consequently =  176.  Con- 
sidering this  as  the  average  weekly  deaths — which 
could  not  be  far  wrong,  since  only  the  data  referring 
to  two  weeks  have  been  omitted — then  the  total 
annual  mortality  is  176X52=9152  and  the  probable 
coefficient — the    city    in    question    having    450,000 

inhabitants — is =  20.36. 

450 


AMERICA 


MONTREAL, 
450,000 
INHABS. 


OTTAWA, 

86,000 

INHABS. 


UNITED    STATES 


BALTIMORE, 


558,485 
INHABS. 


BOSTON, 
MASS. 
670,585 
INHABS. 


CLEVELAND, 
OHIO 
560,663 
INHABS. 


PITTSBORGH, 

PA. 

533,905 

INHABS. 


ST.LOUIS, 

MO. 
687,029 
INHABS. 


BUFFALO, 

N.Y. 
423,715 
INHABS. 


DETROIT, 

MIOH. 
466,766 
INHABS. 


i.FRANCISOO, 

OA. 

410,912 

INHABS. 


WASHINGTON 

D.C. 

331,069 

INHABS. 


EUROPE 


ATHENS 
175,430 
INHABS. 


TURKEY 


CONSTANTI- 
NOPLE 
1,000,000 
INHABS. 


MADRAS 
55,000 
INHABS. 


SMYRNA 
400,000 
INHABS. 


AFRICA 


CAIRO 
682,953 
INHABS. 


"   14 

Feb.  4 

..   11 

..   18 

Mar.  4 

/,  11 

"   18 

"   13 

■  .  23 

"  29 

Aug.  5 

"   12 

.1   19 

Sep.  2.     

"   9  — 

..  23 

"  29._ 

Oct  7 

"  21 

II  28 

Nov.  4_ 

"   11.  . 

M   18   _ 

.1  25  .  . 

II  16.   __ 

II  23     .  ... 

1.  30 

TOTALS.. 

Number    of 
Weeks.. 
Weekly  Average. 
Total  for  52  Weeks_, 


198.92 
10344 


225.72 
11737 


152.21 
7915 


157.22 
8175 


122.96 
6394 


12.1 
6294 


417.84 
21728 


83.32 
4333 


538.2 
27986 


Classification  of  the  Weekly  Mortality  Kegistered  in  the  Following:  Cities  During  1911,  According 
to  Data  Published  by  the  Public  Health  and  Marine-Hospital  Seryice  of  Washington  (U.S.A.),  and  Estimate  of  the  Annual  Total  Mortality. 


Appendices  187 

BULLETIN  ANNUAL  DE   STATISTIQUE    D^MOGRAPHIQUE       / 

MEDICALE 

Out  of  this  publication,  issued  by  La  Division 
d'Hygiene  de  la  Ville  de  Bruxelles,  we  have  secured 
the  data  for  191 1  for  the  following  thirty  European 
cities : 

Germany:  Berlin,  Breslau,  Cologne,  Dresden,  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  Leipzig,  and  Munich. 

Austria-Hungary:  Vienna,  Budapest,  and  Praga. 

Belgium:  Brussels. 

Bulgaria:  Sofia. 

Denmark:  Copenhagen. 

Spain:  Madrid. 

France:  Paris,  Lyon,  Marseilles. 

Holland:  The  Hague,  Amsterdam,  and  Rotterdam. 

England:  London,  Dublin,  Leeds,  and  Sheffield. 

Italy:  Rome. 

Norway:  Christiania. 

Russia:  Saint-Petersburg  and  Odessa. 

Sweden:  Stockholm. 

Switzerland:  Berne. 

Other  Founts  of  Information 

The  data  relative  to  the  other  cities  included  in 
tables  Nos.  i  and  2,  proceed  from  the  various  authori- 
ties herewith : 

Central  America 

San  Jose  (Costa  Rica).  Pages  85  and  93  from 
Statistical  Summaries  published  by  the  National 
Bureau  of  Statistics  for  1883  to  1910,  at  San  Jose, 


1 88  Appendices 

Costa  Rica,  191 2.  Volume  furnished  by  the  Costa 
Rica  Consul  in  Mexico. 

Guatemala  (Guatemala).  The  figures  on  popula- 
tion were  taken  from  page  998  of  the  Almanack  de 
Gotha,  1 91 3,  whereas  those  referring  to  mortality 
— including  all  the  Department  of  Guatemala — are 
found  in  page  24  of  the  first  Bulletin  of  Agriculture 
and  Statistics  corresponding  to  July,  1912,  published 
by  the  Department  of  the  Interior  of  Guatemala. 
There  is  a  copy  of  this  volume  in  the  Library  of  the 
Department  of  the  Interior  (Fomento)  of  Mexico. 

Tegucigalpa  (Honduras).  The  figures  for  popula- 
tion are  to  be  found  at  page  1003  of  the  Almanack 
de  Gotka,  1913.  The  mortality  was  given  by  the 
Honduras  Consul  at  Mexico. 

[  Managua  (Nicaragua) .  The  figures  for  population 
are  to  be  found  at  page  1064  of  the  Almanack  de 
Gotka,  1 91 3.  The  mortality  proceeds  from  the 
Bulletin  of  Statistics  of  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua^ 
Nos.  14  and  15,  corresponding  to  January  i,  191 1,  and 
published  March  ist  of  the  same  year.  Volumes 
furnished  by  the  Nicaragua  Consul  at  Mexico.    ' ' 

San  Salvador  (El  Salvador).  The  data  of  popula- 
tion as  well  as  of  mortality  are  to  be  found  at  page  7 
of  the  corresponding  nimiber  of  the  quarter  from 
January  to  March,  1911,  of  the  Bulletin  of  Statistics 
and  Meteorology  of  the  General  Bureau  of  Statistics 
of  the  Republic  of  Salvador.  Voliime  furnished  by 
the  Salvador  Consul  at  Mexico. 

Soutk  America 

Argentine  (Buenos  Ayres).  Data  taken  from  page 
1265  of  volume  ix.  of  the  Universal  Illustrated  Euro* 


Appendices  189 

pean  and  American  Encyclopedia^  to  be  found  in  the 
National  Library  of  Mexico. 

Rio  Janeiro  (Brazil) .  Data  taken  from  the  Monthly 
Bulletin  of  Demographo-Sanitarian  Statistics  of  the 
City  of  Rio  Janeiro,  numbers  corresponding  to  191 1, 
to  be  found  in  the  Library  of  the  Board  of  Health  of 
Mexico  City. 

Santiago  (Chili).  Data  furnished  by  His  Excel- 
lency the  Minister  of  Chili  at  Mexico.  Calculating 
the  coefficient  of  that  city,  using  the  figures  of  popula- 
tion and  mortality — 404,481  inhabitants  and  14,457 
deaths  respectively — which  are  to  be  found  on  pages 
21,  44,  and  45  of  the  Synopsis  of  Statistics  and  Geo- 
graphy of  the  Republic  of  Chili  in  iQoy,  published  in 
1909  by  the  Central  Office  of  Statistics  of  Santiago 
of  Chili,  the  said  coefficient  turns  out  to  be  otily  35.7 
— that  is,  less  than  that  consigned  in  table  No.  2,  by 
nearly  five  deaths  per  year  for  each  one  thous-and 
inhabitants.  The  work  in  question  is  to  be  found  at 
the  National  Library  of  Mexico. 

Bogotd  (Colombia).  Data  furnished  by  the  Colom- 
bian Consul  at  Mexico. 

Panama  (Panama).  The  population  figures  pro- 
ceed from  page  1078  of  the  Almanach  de  Gotha,  191 3. 
Those  for  mortality  are  to  be  found  on  pages  20  and 
21  of  No.  22  of  the  Bulletin  of  Statistics  of  the 
Republic  of  Panama,  published  by  the  General  Bureau 
of  Statistics  of  Panama.  Volume  to  be  found  in  the 
Library  of  the  Department  of  Fomento  at  Mexico. 

Montevideo  (Uruguay).  The  figures  for  popula- 
tion are  to  be  found  on  page  1240  of  the  Almanach  de 
Gotha,  191 3.  Those  for  mortality  from  page  7  from 
Civil  Conditions  and  Mortality  in  the  Oriental  Republic 
of  Uruguay  in  191 1,  report  published  in  191 2  by  the 


I90  Appendices 

General  Bureau  of  the  Civil  State.  Volume  to  be 
found  in  the  Library  of  the  Mexican  Society  of 
Geography  and  Statistics. 

Caracas  (Venezuela).  Data  taken  from  page  868, 
No.  II,  May,  191 1,  of  the  Bulletin  of  the  Minister 
of  the  Interior  (Fomento)  of  Venezuela;  publication 
to  be  found  in  the  Library  of  the  Department  of 
Fomento  at  Mexico. 

West  Indies 

Havana  (Cuba).  The  figures  for  population  are 
to  be  found  on  page  808  of  the  Almanach  de  Gotha^ 
1 91 3.  Those  of  mortality  are  to  be  found  on  page 
613  of  volume  vii. — corresponding  to  June,  191 2 — ■ 
of  Sanitation  and  Benefaction,  a  monthly  publication 
of  the  same  Department. 

Europe 

Bucharest  (Rumania).  Data  taken  from  the  table 
of  Demographic  International  Coefficients,  consigned 
in  volume  viii.,  19 10,  of  the  Annual  Summary  of 
Municipal  Statistics  of  Montevideo,  191 1'.  Volume  to 
be  found  in  the  Library  of  the  Uruguay  Consulate. 


NO.  Ill 

TABLE   SHOWING   THE  MORTALITY   OF   THE   CITY   OF 
MEXICO   AND   ITS   CAUSES   FROM    I9O4  TO    I912      - 


191 


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NO.  IV 

economic  conditions  of  some  families  among 
working  people 

first  example 

Agustin  Lopez: 

Works  as  a  peon  in  the  city's  public  gardens  and 
parks;  receives  $0.75  per  day,  during  all  the  days  of 
the  week,  and  supports  his  mother  and  wife. 

Weekly  Budget  of  the  Family 

expenses 

Feeding: 

8  cuartillos  of  com $1 .04 

2  cuartillos  of  beans 0.48 

2  kilos  of  meat 0.70 

Peppers 0.16 

Salt o.ii 

Sugar o.ii 

Wood  and  coal 0.60 

Pulque 0.42 

$3.62 

Clothing: 

2  meters  of  manta  or  percal 0.62 

Washing: 
Soap 0.25 

House  rent: 

Pays  weekly  for  a  narrow  and  damp  room,  5th 

Chile  Street  No.  19,  Colonia  Santa  Julia  0.50 

200 


Appendices  201 

Hairdressing: 

Has  his  hair  cut  every  three  weeks  at  a  cost  of 
$0.20;  the  weekly  expense  amounts  there- 
fore to $0.07 

Total $5.06 

RECEIPTS 

Receives  weekly  at  the  rate  of  $0.75  daily 5.25 

Weekly  surplus $0.19 

Dwelling 

Resides  at  the  5th  Street  of  Chile  No.  19,  Colonia 
Santa  Julia.  The  habitation  consists  of  one  room, 
rather  damp,  though  within  there  is  a  range  fire 
burning  during  the  greater  part  of  the  day.  The 
dwelling  is  made  of  adobe  with  brick  floor,  and  has 
3.40  meters  length,  by  3.37  meters  width,  and  4.00 
height.  There  is  no  furniture  save  two  mats  whereon 
the  family  sleeps.  There  are  plenty  of  cooking  uten- 
sils, and  they  are  kept  very  clean.  The  whole  habita- 
tion is  clean  also.  The  tenement  is  well  provided 
with  water  from  an  artesian  well,  and  it  has  washing 
places  for  the  community  of  tenants. 

second  example 

Marcelino  Nieves: 

Works  as  a  peon  in  the  city's  public  gardens;  re- 
ceives $0.68  per  day,  during  all  the  week,  and  he 
supports  his  wife  and  two  children. 

The  Family's  Weekly  Budget 

expenses 
Food: 

36  kilos  of  dough  to  make  tortillas  or  maize 

baked  cakes $1.80 


202  Appendices 

Wood  for  cooking $  i  .00 

I  cuartillo  of  beans 0.20 

I  kilo  of  meat 0.18 

1  kilo  of  salt 0.25 

Peppers o.io 

Sugar 0.03 

$3-56 

Clothing  for  all  the  family: 

2  meters  of  manta  or  percal 0.40 

Washing: 

Soap 0.12 

House  rent: 

Corresponding  payment 0.50 

Hairdressing: 

Cuts  his  hair  every  three  weeks  at  a  cost  of 
^0.25;  the  weekly  expense  is  therefore 0.08 

Total $4.66 

INCOME 

Receives  weekly  at  the  rate  of  $0.68  daily 4.08 

Weekly  deficit $0.58 

Dwelling 

Their  dwelling  could  hardly  be  worse.  It  is  situ- 
ated in  a  nameless  street  of  the  Santa  Julia  Colony, 
near  some  swampy  lands.  It  is  made  up  of  an  en- 
closure formed  by  one  adobe  wall,  and  three  walls  of 
old  and  badly  joined  boards,  through  the  openings 
of  which  drafts  find  access  easy.  The  roof  is  of  zinc 
sheets,  in  very  bad  condition.  The  enclosure  meas- 
ures 6.70  meters  in  length  by  4.39  meters  in  width  and 
3.20  meters  in  height,  with  only  one  door,  low, 
and  narrow.  It  serves  as  shelter  for  all  the  family, 
and  the  sole  furniture  consists  of  two  mats  to  sleep, 
a  comal  or  tortilla  cooking  utensil,  and  a  few  cooking 
utensils;  everything  is  filthy  and  presents  the  aspect 


Appendices  203 

of  direful  poverty.  The  air  is  close  to  the  point  of 
oppressiveness,  owing  to  the  smoke  from  the  wood 
burned  within  the  hut. 

A  partly  civilized  being  could  barely  remain  two 
consecutive  hours  in  such  an  awful  hovel,  the  un- 
healthfulness  of  which  is  greatly  increased  by  the 
emanations  from  the  swamps  referred  to  above. 

The  water  used  for  washing  and  other  purposes 
is  taken  from  a  well  close  to  the  house,  and  the  open 
field  is  the  only  place  used  for  urinating  and  defecat- 
ing by  the  inhabitants  of  this  den,  and  of  the  similar 
ones  around. 

It  is  truly  surprising  that  the  wretched  family  of 
this  workman  should  have  survived  a  two  years' 
sojourn  in  such  conditions. 

third  example 

Felix  Luna: 

Works  as  peon  in  the  city's  public  gardens;  re- 
ceives $0.75  per  day,  during  every  day  of  the  week 
and  supports  three  grandchildren. 

Weeexy  Budget  of  the  Family 

expenses 

Food: 

9  cuarterones^  of  maize  for  tortillas $1.26 

Coal 0.50 

i>2  cuartillos  of  beans 0.30 

Meat  (only  on  Sundays) 0.15 

Peppers 0.12 

Salt 0.18 

Milk  (for  one  child) 0.42 

Sugar 0.12 

Pulque 0.42 

. ^347 

^  Mexican  dry  measure  equivalent  to  1.72  quarts. 


204  Appendices 

Clothing  for  all  the  family: 

Manta  or  percal,  3  meters $0.60 

Washing: 

Soap  and  lye 0.20 

House  rent: 

Corresponding  payment '        i.oo 

Hairdressing: 

Has  his  hair  cut  once  a  month  at  a  cost  of  $0.10; 

the  weekly  expense  is  consequently 0.03 

Total S5.30 

INCOME 

Receives  per  week,  at  the  rate  of  $0.75  daily ....  $5.25 

Weekly  deficit $0.05 

Dwelling 

It  is  situated  at  No.  1914  Escandon  Street  at 
Tacubaya.  It  is  an  apartment  mad'e  up  of  one  piece 
with  yard  and  kitchen,  all  with  much  light,  and  in 
relatively  good  hygienic  conditions.  The  room  is 
4.20  meters  long  by  3.07  wide  and  3.75  high,  with 
painted  walls  and  wooden  floor.  The  only  furniture 
is  a  large  mat  on  which  the  whole  family  sleeps.  There 
is  besides  a  makeshift  to  store  clothes  made  up  of 
two  cases,  and  a  wooden  shelf.  The  walls  are  orna- 
mented with  religious  chromoes,  calendars,  and  other 
prints  and  trifles. 

The  cleanliness  to  be  observed  in  the  room  and 
yard  are  noteworthy,  and  most  uncommon. 

The  apartment  is  plentifully  provided  with  water 
and  there  is  a  sink  providing  facilities  for  clothes 
washing  for  the  community  at  the  distance  of  some 
meters.  Although  the  whole  tenement  is  occupied 
by  families  in  most  humble  circiunstai;ices,  it  does 
present  a  very  clean  aspect. 


Appendices  205 

fourth  example 

Isabel  Flores  and  Catarino  Flores:' 

They  work  as  peons  in  the  city's  public  gardens; 
they  receive  $0.75  per  day,  respectively,  for  every 
day  of  the  week,  and  support  the  wife  of  one  of  them 
and  two  children. 

The  Family's  Weekly  Budget 

expenses 

Food: 

20  cuartillos  of  maize $2.40 

4  cuartillos  of  beans 0.80 

Wood 1 .40 

Meat 1.60 

Salt:  I  kilo 0.50 

Peppers 0.65 

Sugar 0.34 

$7.69 

Purchase  of  clothing: 

Average i  .50 

Washing  of  clothes: 

Soap 0.30 

House  rent: 

The  dwelling  wherein  they  live  has  been  gra- 
tuitously ceded  to  them  as  remuneration 

for  personal  services 

Hair  dressing: 

They  have  their  hair  cut  every  15  days  at  an 

expense  of 0.15 

Total $9.64 

RECEIITS 

They  earn  per  week,  at  the  rate  of  $1.50  per  day..  $10.50 

This  leaves  a  weekly  surplus  in  their  favor  of  $0.86 

'They  are  considered  jointly  as  they  belong  to  one  and  the 
same  family,  and  they  both  contribute  to  the  support  of  the 
same  with  the  produce  of  their  work. 


2o6  Appendices 

Dwelling 

They  live  in  a  wooden  house,  that  is  fairly  well 
built,  to  be  found  in  a  lot  which  is  adjacent  to  the 
lateral  gardens  of  the  Reforma.  The  same  is  5 
meters  long,  by  3.50  wide,  and  5  high.  It  receives 
the  sunlight  during  the  whole  day,  and  this  helps  to 
keep  the  interior  quite  dry.  As  an  annex  to  the 
houselet,  there  is  a  small  kitchen  also  made  of  wood 
where  the  food  is  cooked  without  having  to  use  the 
dwelling  for  the  purpose.  In  the  dwelling  there 
sleep  at  night,  on  four  mats,  eight  persons,  or  that  is, 
four  who  make  up  the  family  of  Flores,  and  four 
members  of  another  family  who  live  with  them  and 
whose  living  expenses  have  not  been  included  in  this 
report. 

The  furniture  of  the  dwelling  is  made  up  of  a  small 
table,  four  cases  to  keep  clothes  therein,  a  stand,  and 
two  small  shelves.  The  kitchen  is  supplied  with 
various  utensils,  and  of  course  the  metate  with  which 
to  make  tortillas.  Cleanliness  in  the  home  is  to  be 
observed,  and  the  people  living  therein  seem  to  be 
persons  of  good  habits. 

The  water  for  washing  and  for  other  domestic 
purposes,  is  obtainable  in  the  gardens  nearby. 


Cr 


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